TEAM DARLO SAYS 'YES' TO THE VOICE
"How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?"
- Uluru Statement from the Heart, 2017
Tomorrow, Saturday 14 October, Australians will go to a referendum to answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the following question: Do you approve to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?
Team Darlo say YES.
The Voice referendum grew out of the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, which was written and endorsed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders from across Australia. The statement called for reform under 3 key pillars: Voice, Treaty and Truth.
We deeply and humbly accept the First Nations practice of truth-telling. When it comes down to it, the truth is:
For more than 60,000 years these lands, skies and waterways were cared for, understood and respected, by First Nations peoples
Our post-colonial knowledge of country and First People sums to only 235 years.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are 3% of Australia's population; until colonisation, they were 100%.
'We' - the 97% - routinely determine the destiny of First Nations peoples with our votes.
In a system where self-determination must be legislated, 3% can't make it happen.
Our history shows that every legislated body ever created to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ self-determination has been abolished by the government of the day
The only way to ensure First Nations people always have a legislated mechanism for self-determination is to enshrine the concept of that mechanism in the Constitution
Without the 'majority' - and in this case the 'double-majority' of all of us - that cannot happen.
We understand there are many differing views and opinions on this referendum. To understand why The Voice is an opportunity - and not a threat - to our nation, we have looked to the 440 words that make-up the Uluru statement. Most simply, it is in the title: "...from the Heart".
And that's why the humans of Darlo say YES.
We encourage everyone to make independent, informed decisions. If you don't know, find out - there are so many valuable resources that provide balanced views; and regardless of the outcome it's about what happens next. We want that to be 'how' not 'if'. We say YES to doing the work - and YES to listening, recognition, and to uplifting the voice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.
Resources:
The Uluru Statement From The Heart
More info about the ‘double majority’