By Muriel Bamblett
For me, like many Aboriginal people, there are many visible and invisible challenges when putting an Aboriginal voice in the room. You never really know the people in the room or what their knowledge and experiences of Aboriginal people are. Nor whether they believe the myths and stereotypes of ‘Aboriginal’. There is also the challenge of addressing theknowledge, skills, and awareness gaps that Australia has in relation to its First Peoples.
For me, the Aboriginal voice is not a single voice. It is a collective voice of a people who all speak in unison, but not always unity, and in this is its strength. Aboriginal people carry thousands of voices, whether it be the voices of our past Elders, activists, pioneers or human rights leaders. For Aboriginal people, our voice includes our ancestors — patriarchal and matriarchal voices — because we believe we walk in the path our ancestors set for us and that our ancestors are always looking over us.
Aboriginal people have a long history of trying to be heard and being inventive in how we use Western approaches to see if our voice would be listened to and acted upon. The first documented Victorian ‘protest’ took place in 1876 when the Coranderrk mission was to be closed as the land was deemed to be of too much value and government did not recognise the achievements of Aboriginal people nor their measures of success. William Barak led Aboriginal men who marched for 60 km to protest at the equivalent of the steps of Parliament. They did it again 10 years later and wrote lots of petitions seeking the same freedoms as the white population, who were gifted lands upon colonisation. In 1933 William Cooper established the Aborigines League to fight for a fair deal. In 1937our leaders tried to petition the King for direct representation in Parliament. On 26 January 1938, we had the first Day of Mourning that has since become the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, a peaceful sit-in with handwritten signs. In 1939 there was the Cummeragunja Walk-off – a strike over unfair conditions. In 1949, if as an Aboriginal person you served in the armed forces, you could vote in Federal elections, but all other Aboriginal people didn’t get that right until 1962 when Aboriginal people became citizens of Australia.
Then in 1967, there was a referendum to transfer the power to legislate for Aboriginal Australians from the states to the Commonwealth.
This referendum also sought the power to include Aboriginal Australians in the national census. 91 per cent of the nation voted “Yes” and 95 per cent voted “Yes” in Victoria.
So, it’s not like we as Aboriginal people haven’t tried to have a voice and a sophisticated one, that met Western expectations. These are but a few examples of an Aboriginal voice. Australian politics just has a history of not listening.
The Voice forces governments to see Aboriginal people and acknowledge us, but it also places responsibility on the government to listen and act. At present the dominant voice is those who speak from privilege and often the loudest voice is the media. For those dominant voices, it’s much easier to blame others, to say that “the past is the past” and tell people to “get over it”. Sounds like the “No” campaign today, don’t you think?
As Aboriginal people we see it all the time, we are forced to compromise, and water down our voice until it’s palatable for the masses. We have been so well trained that we as a community believe that small steps are better than none at all, that we have to pick our battles or we will compromise reform, meaningful change.
The voice means we are replacing the tick-and-flick approach to decision- making, with an approach that is more about checks and balances. All we as a people have ever wanted is autonomy, equality, respect and self- determination. Self-determination is necessary if our children are to have a better future.
The Voice to Parliament is not just a question of justice, it’s also a question of best practice. We need a human rights framework on top of this which respects Aboriginal communities’ rights to self-determination and protects them from racism is essential if we are to tackle disadvantage through the Voice.
Fundamental to providing for Aboriginal self-determination and respecting Aboriginal governance, is also working with Aboriginal communities to restore their capacity to exercise their rights, freedoms and responsibilities in the context of the dominant culture.
I strongly believe that a Voice to Parliament will make a difference to Aboriginal Australians. I hope you vote “Yes” when you get the chance. But I also hope that you will be able to have difficult conversations with colleagues, family and friends about giving a voice to others that doesn’t take away from your voice. Surely, it’s time that Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander people are recognised in the constitution?
Adjunct Professor Muriel Bamblett Hon DLittSw AO is a Yorta Yorta Dja Dja Wurrung woman who has been employed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency since 1999. Muriel is Chair of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), the peak Australian agency for Indigenous child and family services. Muriel is active on many boards and committees concerning children, families, and the Indigenous community, including the Aboriginal Children’s Forum, the Dhelk Dja Family Violence Partnership Forum, the Aboriginal Justice Forum, the First Peoples’ Assembly and the Aboriginal Community Elders Service. Muriel is also a member of King & Wood Mallesons’ inauguralFirst Nations Leaders Circle. Muriel’s contribution to her community and to Victoria has been recognised in many awards. In 2019 Muriel was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Australia Day Honours for distinguished service to the Indigenous community in Victoria as an advocate for the self-determination and cultural rights of children. Muriel has been inducted into the Victorian Indigenous Honour Roll and the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.
This article is an edited version of the Castan Centre and King & Wood Mallesons Annual Lecture given by Adjunct Professor Muriel Bamblett on 9 May 2023. For an unedited version of this speech, visit the Castan Centre Centre website.
This post was originally published on Castan Centre for Human Rights Law .
