Our continent is vast and our peoples as diverse as the landscapes. We are a truly successful and vibrant multicultural country. But there is one glaring matter we are yet to address as Australians. More than 200 years since colonisation - with all of the brutality and marginalisation of the Indigenous peoples that followed - we are yet to recognise their proud 60,000-year heritage and culture as foundational to who we are.
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All other like nations have some form of recognition of Indigenous peoples. In fact, we are at the back of the pack.
New Zealand has the Treaty of Waitangi as a founding document. Canada and the United States recognise Indigenous rights in their constitutions. And the Sami in Scandinavian countries are heard through a Sami Parliament, similar to the advisory Voice we are considering at the coming referendum.
How can we say we are the greatest country of all when we are the only like nation with no constitutional recognition of our original habitants. Far from great - Indigenous Australians are proportionately the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are the worst in the world in terms of Indigenous health, education and employment outcomes.
Myself, with many other advocates, have been crisscrossing our great continent for more than six years now, working hard to help both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians to understand how we can close these gaps by voting "yes" in the coming referendum.
The proposed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice is not my idea alone, nor of any other individual. It is not the idea of a political party of self-interested politician. The question we will be asked later this year is from a powerful national consensus reached in the heart of the nation. An invitation delivered into all Australians through the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
The Uluru Statement was endorsed by Indigenous delegates from across the nation. They were from the remotest of communities such as One Arm Point in the Kimberley and Angurugu in the NT; regional towns such as Carnarvon in Western Australia and Thursday Island in the Torres Strait; and all of the capital cities.
Though the process that led to the proposal for the Voice was unprecedentedly extensive and well-informed, it should be understandable that some Indigenous people have not yet heard of the Uluru Statement or how and why we have come to this constitutional moment. The Uluru Statement was immediately dismissed by the government of the day. Until recently, there has been barely any resources to inform the Australian public, let alone the hardest to reach of communities.
With the support of my union, who seconded me to help take the message in the Uluru Statement to the people at the request of Indigenous elders, I have worked hard for six years now at this task. Others have done so too, at their own expense, or with the support of their university, corporate employer or Indigenous-controlled organisation. We have done this work not for personal profit, but for the love of our families and our country.
In the remaining months to the referendum, the "yes" campaign will be doing our utmost to reach even the most regional and remote communities. And we will be listening as well - listening for people who want to learn more, who are calling out to be informed.
We are working hard to inform people about the reasons for a Voice. One of the reasons is to better be able to inform people in regional and remote communities about current affairs. A Voice establishes the means for better informed communities, empowering them to better inform the policy and law makers of this land. All the evidence shows that a Voice such as this is the key to closing the gap.
I don't believe it's newsworthy when there is reporting of a single Indigenous person in a regional or remote community who does not know about the referendum. What we should be focused on instead is listening to the feedback and hearing the stories. You'll hear the same feedback and stories that were told to me in the debate and discussion that led to the proposal for a Voice in the first place: "we are tired of not being heard."
The measure for support for recognition through a Voice for Indigenous people in this coming referendum should not be that every single person should know about it. I could go to any electorate in the country and find a resident that does not know who their elected member of Parliament is. I could find a person who is on a waitlist for social housing that is completely unaware of the debate about this crucial issue in Parliament House.
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We would do nothing if the prerequisite for taking action on Indigenous matters required 100 per cent support from the people who are affected. Yet at present, numerous polls are showing that over 80 per cent Indigenous people will vote "yes".
The only measure required to move forward should be if you agree with the truth of what this change will be. At the referendum, we are responding to a simple and modest proposition: should our constitution include recognition of the First Peoples of Australia by granting them the fairness of a say.
- Thomas Mayo is a Kaurareg Aboriginal, Kalkalgal and Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man, an official with the Maritime Union of Australia, an author of six books, and a key advocate for a constitutionally enshrined Voice.
