January 26 is not the best day to gauge the progress of a campaign to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution, and to establish a body that gives them a platform from which to be heard by the government and the parliament on issues that affect them.
It is a raw day for Indigenous Australia, and equally a day when many Australians feel entitled to celebrate the country as it is, without reflecting on its historic significance.
Still, it would have been dispiriting to supporters of the Voice to see the day marked by an evolution in opposition from a position of there not being enough “detail” about how such a body could work, to a sense that the underlying constitutional question of recognition — and why that was important — had got lost in the melee.
Equally, there were hostility and clear divisions within the First Nations community, with some not only arguing against supporting the Voice because they don’t believe it will change anything, to claiming it would actually undermine Indigenous rights.
Lots of people won’t have been paying much attention over the summer to the Voice debate, despite the increasing noise it has been generating.
The federal government also insists everyone have a chill pill because a referendum is still at least nine months away.
But if you have been paying attention, the complexities and divisions would not seem to augur particularly well for the quality of the national debate in the months ahead.
Lots of talk, no coordination or coherency
The federal Coalition is divided and undecided about what it will do. The Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe is among a phalanx of Indigenous people attacking the proposal from the left.
And for the past week, the eruption of violence in Alice Springs has both highlighted the failures of current policy and raised legitimate questions about how the Voice could fix a complex and nightmarish problem, not just in Alice but in many parts of Australia.
The Prime Minister may well have intervened with a grog ban, though few think this is enough to deal with the complex issues involved.
And in fact, it looked very much like exactly the sort of band-aid that has so often been the hallmark of responses to crises in Indigenous affairs. As did Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s intervention calling for the Australian Federal Police to be sent in.
But the complaint made by community leaders that they had been asking for help for months — but that these calls had gone unheeded — both demonstrated the fact that these communities don’t get listened to now, and gave a platform for both the pro and negative cases for what the Voice might to do to change this.
Confronted with a situation where the message demonstrably did not get through to Canberra that the lapsing of liquor laws last year was going to cause — and then did cause — all sorts of problems, what is happening in Alice Springs can be seen to promote the cause of a body which can speak authoritatively, in detail, and early, about what needs to be done.
As Uluru Statement author and constitutional lawyer Megan Davis told 7.30 in December: “One of the key things about the Voice is that we’re not just involved in Parliament until the bells are ringing [for a vote on legislation]. We’d be at the table when they’re designing the laws and policies and having the initial conversations.”
At the moment, she says, “there’s a lot of noise”:
“There’s a lot of advisory committees, there’s a lot of talk, there’s a lot of reports, but there’s no coordination. There’s no coherency. And I think what people feel is a virtue of the Voice is that we can get that national coherency back again. The Commonwealth, and cascading through the Federation to the states and territories, will be compelled to listen.”
That’s the “key thing”, Davis argues: “They’re not going to listen out of the goodness of their hearts.”
All the premiers are on board
Davis observed that the Nationals’ decision late last year to oppose the Voice was in itself “a really good example of why the Voice is needed”.
“They made that decision on the basis of no detail. They hadn’t read anything, they hadn’t responded to any substantive, concrete detail. That’s actually what happens in Indigenous affairs.”
For his part, the Prime Minister seems utterly certain that the structures are in place to give confidence the referendum vote will pass.
At the Australia Day concert at the Sydney Opera House, he shared a platform with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, who reiterated his government’s support for the Voice. As did Tasmanian Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff at a press conference on Friday.
In fact, all the state premiers are on board for a referendum which will be determined on majority state support. (This also obviously only further isolates Peter Dutton if he decides to oppose the referendum).
There’s also support from church groups, ethnic groups, sporting groups, business groups and the ACTU. Most have promised a lot more than just notional support, instead committing to ensuring their members and workforces are able to fully informed about the referendum question is about.
The information campaign is yet to begin
Albanese even seized on Senator Thorpe’s interventions as a potential positive when asked about it at a press conference in Hobart on Friday, arguing her interventions only highlighted the modesty of the proposal.
“Every state premier, every chief minister is supporting ‘yes’ at this referendum because this is about progress going forward. It is about reconciliation,” he said.
“It’s not a radical proposition. So, I’m not surprised that some radicals are opposed to it. Because this is a mainstream proposition. This is a modest and gracious request for reconciliation by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.
Rockliff said the referendum and the Voice was about “ensuring that not only do we recognise Indigenous Australians in our constitution but also listen to their concerns: their ideas of how we can support First Nations people right across the country in living a better life, closing the gap on all of those areas that for generations we have failed Indigenous Australians in so many areas. This is about bringing the country together.”
The government’s information campaign on the Voice has not yet begun.
The parliament will consider legislation for the machinery of the referendum in the sittings that begin early next month, then the legislation containing the actual question that will be put will be debated — including through a parliamentary inquiry in the months leading up to and around the May budget, before the referendum proceeds in mid-September at the earliest.
Given the significance of a failure of the referendum, the spectre of people having already made up their minds before the formal kick-off will haunt our politics all year.
Laura Tingle is 7.30’s chief political correspondent.