The right side of history - Thomas Mayo

A shortened version of an opinion piece at https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/ topic/2023/04/15/the-right-side-history

Thomas Mayo (pictured) is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander man, national Indigenous officer of the MUA and co-author with Kerry O’Brien of his sixth book, The Voice to Parliament Handbook – All the details you need

Recently, speaking at a school, I asked the teachers to imagine how they would feel telling children in the future that in 2023

Australia voted “No” at the Voice referendum, Thomas Mayo writes…

I asked them to imagine how it would feel and it brought me to tears. In that moment, I thought about my children, my future grandchildren, all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, learning with their nonIndigenous friends that the gap remains as wide as ever, that the burdens of Australia’s colonial past still weigh heavily on their shoulders.

I thought about what it would be like for an Indigenous child to be taught that, as a distinct people, we are measured in statistics – that in those statistics we experience a remarkable deficit, but when the nation was asked if the solutions we could offer were worthy of recognition, the answer was “No”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton wishes to write himself into Australian history.

The story he wants to write for our nation is the opposite of what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people envision.

As usual, when politicians are point scoring off matters that affect Indigenous lives, Indigenous leaders just get on with the work at hand.

Soon after the election, the government appointed the referendum working group, with the minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, and the special envoy for reconciliation and implementation of the Uluru Statement, Senator Pat Dodson, as co-chairs.

My fellow members include Marcia Langton, Tom Calma, Pat Anderson, Pat Turner, Noel Pearson, Megan Davis, Jackie Huggins, Tony McAvoy and Peter Yu. Most of the group have worked on Indigenous rights and recognition for many decades.

You would think a leader in our country would respect a group with such a depth of knowledge and experience – culturally, academically and through their lives.

This is a group of people who have worked hard and made personal sacrifices to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.

I would not be speaking out of school to say that the referendum working group acted with a great sense of solidarity. We were collectively determined not to waste this once-ingenerations opportunity.

The outcome of our work, announced by the Prime Minister on 23 March, with us by his side, has been endorsed as legally sound by a majority of respected constitutional experts, including former High Court justices, law councils and respected silks such as Bret Walker, SC.

The wording merely ensures that Indigenous people can make representations so we are heard, while the parliament decides the rest.

[Last] week, the former shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Julian Leeser, has shown he understands what it means to be on the right side of history.

When he resigned from the frontbench of the Liberal opposition so he could openly support the “Yes” campaign, he talked about doing so on a matter of principle.

Leeser isn’t the only Liberal who supports the campaign. He joins Bridget Archer, who has long taken the principled position to support constitutional recognition.

He also joins the Tasmanian Liberal premier, Jeremy Rockliff, and Western Australian Liberal leader Libby Mettam, who both support the Voice.

And he joins his former colleague, the first Indigenous minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt, who on a matter of principle has resigned from the party.

I hope more will come to join us, as businesses, unions, religious and ethnic groups have, as the Greens and the teals and some crossbenchers have.

As a majority of Australians have indicated, they will too. We cannot let this referendum fail.