Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Can more ethical histories be written about early colonial expeditions? A new project seeks to do just that

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

The name of the Aboriginal man in this article was how he was referred to, and his relative has requested we honour this name.

Key Points:

The name of the Aboriginal man in this article was how he was referred to, and his relative has requested we honour this name.
Truth-telling is at the heart of a new research project we are currently leading that re-examines the legacy of the Hann Expedition, which travelled Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula in 1872.
Our project seeks to rewrite this period of history – and others – to honour the voices and experiences of Aboriginal people whose contributions to colonial-era expeditions have long been overlooked.
Jerry was derogatorily referred to as “the blackboy”, and his important role in the expedition has never been fully acknowledged.

Descendants leading research

Our research team includes descendants of the 1872 expedition, such as the project lead and co-author, Peter Taylor (a descendant of Norman Taylor’s), and co-researcher and co-author Cameo Dalley (a great-granddaughter of Tate’s).
As descendants, each of us has inherited different family narratives about what took place on the expedition, and whose contributions were central.
Further funding will support our research and the involvement of Traditional Owners along the expedition route, including Olkala, Kuku Yalanji, Lama Lama and Guugu Yimithirr people.
The united commitment of the descendants and their detailed knowledge of this expedition will be incredibly valuable in working with Elders across the cape who still grieve about their own history.

Why truth-telling is needed in Australia

Truth-telling was a vital component of the Uluru Statement from the Heart signed by over 200 Indigenous delegates from around Australia.
However, the failed referendum on a Voice to Parliament last year arguably demonstrated an apathy towards such processes at a national level.

Nicole Huxley is affiliated with North QLD Land Council, Jumbun Limited, Ngrragoonda RNTBC Aboriginal Corporation, Joint Coordinating Committee Member Qld - DSDSATSIP. Cameo Dalley and Peter Taylor do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

The government is well behind on Closing the Gap. This is why we needed a Voice to Parliament

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Another year, and another Closing the Gap report comes before the parliament and the Australian people.

Key Points:

Another year, and another Closing the Gap report comes before the parliament and the Australian people.
The 2024 Closing the Gap report is the first since Australians resoundingly rejected the proposal to enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the Constitution.
With that in mind, it’s unsurprising that in this year’s Closing the Gap report, the government outlines that just four of the 19 targets are on track to be bridged.
It’s also committed to building remote training hubs and improving community wifi services for around 20 remote communities.

‘What’s next?’ is the wrong question to ask

This question has become a staple of pundits and commentators trying to look smart following a referendum process during which they fundamentally failed on the civics, the politics and the journalism of Indigenous issues.
Before we ask about what comes next though, we must ask what has come already, and whether efforts at closing the gap over the past three years, since the agreement was overhauled by the Morrison government, have worked.
The Agreement requires government decision-makers to accept that they do not know what is best for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Closing the Gap in 2024

The one thing to understand about the gap in outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples is that it is not something that ever needed be this way.
As the Productivity Commission found, “it is a direct result of the ways in which governments have used their power over many decades”.
There is also the National Skills Agreement, which includes a dedicated stream of funding for closing the gap to support community-controlled registered training organisations.
Also, next time you run into one of the many MPs and shadow ministers who campaigned against a Voice to Parliament, ask them what their plan is to close the gap and empower Indigenous peoples and communities.

James Blackwell is a Member of the Uluru Dialogue at UNSW.

The Voice campaign showed Labor's strategy for countering right-wing populism is in disarray

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Albanese had partly won the election by pledging to bring Australians together to build a better, more equal Australia.

Key Points:

Albanese had partly won the election by pledging to bring Australians together to build a better, more equal Australia.
However, the Voice outcome has revealed Labor’s strategy for sidestepping right-wing populism to be in disarray.
You have the same rights and opportunities – the same democratic voice – as every other Australian.
You have the same rights and opportunities – the same democratic voice – as every other Australian.

A misguided sense of ‘equality’

It was also a conception of equality that has long been used by the Coalition when dealing with Indigenous affairs.
Peter Dutton may have been somewhat Trumpian in his suggestions that the Australian electoral commission couldn’t be trusted to be impartial.
Read more:
What are 'Advance' and 'Fair Australia', and why are they spearheading the 'no' campaign on the Voice?
Given these comparable strategies, it may not be surprising that the Voice referendum results show similarities with the 1999 republic referendum results.

Albanese’s ‘new politics’ is in fact very old

Albanese may have believed his election victory represented a “new politics”, but in fact his government, and the broader “yes” case, have been fighting a very old politics over the Voice.
The Voice referendum lost for diverse reasons, including the lack of bipartisan support and a successful fear campaign that sometimes mobilised quite horrible racism.
The fact that the official “no” campaign was headed by two Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine, was particularly important in this context.
Perhaps Labor was lulled into a false sense of security by the marriage equality plebiscite outcome.

New polling shows 'no' voters more likely to see Australia as already divided

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

The results of our exclusive opinion poll suggest something to the contrary: most prospective “no” voters see the country as already divided, while “yes” voters are more likely to see it as united.

Key Points:

The results of our exclusive opinion poll suggest something to the contrary: most prospective “no” voters see the country as already divided, while “yes” voters are more likely to see it as united.
These questions were added to the regular Essential opinion poll in its September 5 poll.

Division and the Voice

Of those who see the country as unified, 58% intend to vote “yes”, while only 34% intend to vote “no”.
Those who see division have almost exactly opposite intentions: 59% plan to vote “no” and 34% plan to vote “yes”.
Perceptions of unity and division in Australian society and referendum voting intentions These results are remarkable, and contradict the “no” campaign rhetoric that it is the Voice to Parliament proposal itself that divides us.

Who sees Australia as divided – and why?

Of all the respondents we polled, 27% saw Australia as very or quite unified, and 42% as quite or very divided – which leaves 31% of voters who take a neutral point of view.
Australians may have their disagreements, but only 9% of us see the country as very divided.
It also means “no” voters believe Australia to be considerably more divided, and “yes” voters believe the country to be substantially more unified, than Australians do on average.

A ‘no’ campaign that appeals to perceptions of division

In this sense, rather than offering a voice for unity, the “no” campaign is giving voice to division.
Read more:
The 'yes' Voice campaign is far outspending 'no' in online advertising, but is the message getting through?

Methodology

The survey was conducted online from August 30 to September 3 2023 and is based on 1,151 respondents sourced from online research panels.
Full details of the methodology can be found here.
Samantha Vilkins receives funding from the Australian Research Council through Laureate Fellowship FL210100051 Dynamics of Partisanship and Polarisation in Online Public Debate.

How might the First Nations Voice to Parliament referendum affect Australia's international reputation?

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

In late September, American rap legend MC Hammer made a spectacular intervention into Australia’s upcoming referendum to establish a Voice to Parliament for First Nations people.

Key Points:

In late September, American rap legend MC Hammer made a spectacular intervention into Australia’s upcoming referendum to establish a Voice to Parliament for First Nations people.
In a tweet, he urged Australians to “repair the breach”.
Hammer’s tweet garnered some 1.1 million views, 1,300 retweets and 5,700 likes.

International attention on the vote

On October 14, Australians will vote whether to amend the Constitution to establish a new advisory body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people called the Voice to Parliament.
The new body would provide advice and make representations to parliament and the government on any issues relating to First Nations people.
International attention on the Voice for Parliament referendum peaked on August 30 when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the voting date.

Which countries are the most interested?

New Zealand is also following the debate, with more than 2,000 mentions, as well as politicians in the Pacific.
And while there are public reports on Australian attitudes to other countries, there is much less research on how people in other countries think about Australians.
The lack of research on Australia’s reputation in other countries will make it difficult to assess the impact of the Voice result.
What does seem likely, however, is that a “no” result will be weaponised by other countries against Australia.

Australia’s foreign policy

The referendum result could also affect Australia’s ability to employ a foreign policy approach that seeks to “elevate” Indigenous people and issues.
In 2021, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade released an Indigenous Diplomacy Agenda committed to reconciliation in Australia and supporting Indigenous rights globally.
She argued a foreign service that properly represents the diversity of Australia has “a genuine competitive advantage”.
As a result, a “yes” vote could provide Australian diplomats with “the momentum” to embed a First Nations foreign policy into their practice.

Voice support up in Essential poll, but it is still behind

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

This is the first time since June that “yes” has gained ground between two separate polls by the same pollster.

Key Points:

This is the first time since June that “yes” has gained ground between two separate polls by the same pollster.
The graph below has been updated with additional results from Freshwater and Morgan (see below) as well as Essential.
The Essential and Morgan polls are the best pollsters for “yes”, but it is still behind with these polls.

Labor recovers in Essential voting intentions

In Essential’s two party estimate that includes undecided, Labor led by 50–45, after reaching a low for this term of 49–45 last fortnight.
Primary votes were 33% Labor (up two), 32% Coalition (steady), 14% Greens (up one), 6% One Nation (down two), 2% UAP (steady), 7% for all Others (down one) and 5% undecided (down one).
The gains for Labor and the Greens on primary votes suggest that respondent preferences were better for the Coalition and cost Labor a larger lead.

Freshwater poll: Labor only ahead by 51–49

Primary votes were 37% Coalition (steady), 33% Labor (down one), 13% Greens (up one) and 17% for all Others (steady).
The two most recent Freshwater polls have favoured the Coalition relative to other recent polls, with last week’s Newspoll giving Labor a 54–46 lead.
The Liberals led Labor by 38–29 on economic management and by 32–30 on cost of living.

Morgan poll has best result for ‘yes’ since August

A national Morgan poll, conducted September 18–24 from a sample of 1,511, gave “no” just a 44–39 lead.
While this is a reversal of the 46–36 “yes” lead in the previous Morgan Voice poll in May, it’s the best result for “yes” from any pollster since an early August Essential poll gave “no” a four-point lead.
This poll was conducted using online methods, whereas previous Morgan Voice polls used SMS.

Jacinta Allan replaces Daniel Andrews as Victorian Premier

Daniel Andrews resigned as Victorian Labor Premier and Member for Mulgrave on September 27.
Former deputy Premier Jacinta Allan was elected Labor leader and premier unopposed at a September 27 Labor caucus, and former Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll deputy premier.
Andrews became Victorian premier after winning the November 2014 state election.
In his nearly nine years in power, he did nothing to reform the Victorian upper house’s electoral system.

What kind of Australia will we wake up to if the Voice referendum is defeated on October 14?

Retrieved on:

Sunday, October 1, 2023

If the opinion polls are to be believed, history is repeating itself with the impending Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice referendum.

Key Points:

If the opinion polls are to be believed, history is repeating itself with the impending Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice referendum.
Since the middle of the year, those polls have been relentlessly moving in the wrong direction for the “yes” case.
On the current trajectory, the Voice will secure less than 40% of the national vote and also fail to win the support of a majority of states.
Its advocates point, for example, to the relatively high number of undecided voters, hoping they break heavily in their favour.
Yet a prudent government would now be wargaming what to do in the scenario that the Voice is defeated on October 14.
The defeat of the Voice referendum may set back other elements of Labor’s vision for the nation.
But it is the Australia we will wake up to the morning after October 14, if indeed the referendum goes down.

The 'yes' Voice campaign is far outspending 'no' in online advertising, but is the message getting through?

Retrieved on:

Monday, September 25, 2023

With early voting set to open next week for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, this is a critical time for campaigners to win over voters.

Key Points:

With early voting set to open next week for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, this is a critical time for campaigners to win over voters.
If the same voting patterns apply to the referendum, this means more than half of Australians, particularly older voters, may have cast a vote before voting day on October 14.

What’s happening in the polls?

According to Professor Simon Jackman’s averaging of the polls, “no” currently leads “yes” by 58% to 42% nationally.
The rate of decline in support for “yes” continues to be about 0.75 of a percentage point a week.
If this trend continues, the “yes” vote would sit at 39.6% on October 14, 5.5 percentage points below the “yes” vote in the republic referendum.

What’s happening in the news and social media?

Using Meltwater data, we have seen a massive spike in Voice media coverage since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the referendum date at the end of August.
In the most recent week we analysed, from September 14-21, we saw a huge jump of mentions of the Voice to Parliament (2.86 million) in print media, radio, TV and social media.
This compares to about a quarter million mentions in the first week of the “yes” and “no” campaigns, which we documented in our last report of this series monitoring both campaigns.
Media coverage of the Voice peaked on September 17 with 38,000 mentions, thanks to widespread coverage of the “yes” rallies that day around the country.

Who is advertising online?

This week, we specifically turned our attention to the online advertising spending of the campaigns.
The main online advertising spend is on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms.
In the last three months, its advertising expenditure exceeds $1.1 million, compared to just under $100,000 for Fair Australia, the leading “no” campaign organisation.
The advertising spending data shows how drastically different the strategies of the two main campaigns are.

Referendum disinformation

Studies show disinformation surrounding the referendum has been prevalent on X since at least March.
To mitigate the harms, the AEC has established a disinformation register to inform citizens about the referendum process and call out falsehoods.
We’ve identified three types of disinformation campaigns in the campaign so far.
This disinformation type is not covered in the AEC’s register, as the organisation has no provisions to enforce truth in political advertising.
All three types of disinformation campaigns attacking this referendum should concern us deeply because they threaten trust in our political institutions, which undermines our vibrant democracy.

Is it ethical non-Indigenous people get to decide on the Voice? Is it OK for one group to have rights others don't? An ethicist weighs in

Retrieved on:

Monday, September 25, 2023

Exercise, Nazism, Communication, Education, Indigenous Voice to Parliament, Disability, Marriage, Government, Human voice, First Nations, Commonwealth, Health, Indigenous peoples, Constitution, Whaling, Management, Birth control, Nursing

First, is it appropriate for members of one group to decide what rights members of another group get?

Key Points:

First, is it appropriate for members of one group to decide what rights members of another group get?
Second, is it appropriate to give members of one group rights that members of another group lack?

1. Should one group get to decide for another group?

The Voice, as a form of constitutional recognition that many (but not all) Indigenous people are seeking, can only occur via a referendum.
And there is actually nothing unusual about citizens and their elected representatives making decisions about what rights and entitlements others have.
In both the same-sex marriage and Voice votes, there is a large majority with the power to decide the rights of a minority.
The rights and entitlements set out in a constitution stipulate the fundamental terms of cooperation within a political community.

2. Should one group get something others don’t get?

This leads to the second issue, whether there is something undemocratic about members of one group having different rights to members of other groups.
Something similar would apply to the Voice, with First Nations people having the right to elect members to the Voice that members of other groups would not have.
But surely not every group should have its own constitutionally enshrined Voice?
As Canadian political philosopher Will Kymlicka puts it:
we match the rights to the kinds of disadvantage being compensated for.

Neither of these questions are the important ones

In democracies, majorities are asked to vote on what rights a minority has and members of different groups can have different rights.
Inclusion in the Constitution would serve as an enduring expression of their foundational role in our political community, and would partially insulate them from democratic meddling.

Labor and Albanese recover in Newspoll as Dutton falls, but the Voice's slump continues

Retrieved on:

Monday, September 25, 2023

A national Newspoll, conducted September 18–22 from a sample of 1,239, gave Labor a 54–46 lead, a one-point gain for Labor since the previous Newspoll, three weeks ago.

Key Points:

A national Newspoll, conducted September 18–22 from a sample of 1,239, gave Labor a 54–46 lead, a one-point gain for Labor since the previous Newspoll, three weeks ago.
While Labor’s primary vote improved at the Coalition’s expense, the drop for the Greens should have cost Labor preferences.
He returns to net positive approval after falling into net negative for the first time this term in the previous Newspoll.
While Labor and Albanese improved and Dutton fell, the Voice’s slump continued, with “no” now ahead by 56–36, out from a 53–38 “no” lead in early September.