Indigenous voice to government

The Indigenous voice to government is a body established by the Australian Government in October 2019 in order to create a channel for the voices and ideas of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be heard in Australia. The process by which the channel will be established is known as the Indigenous voice co-design process. Arising from a request in the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart to have "a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution", referred to as an Indigenous voice to Parliament, the Voice to government announced in October 2019 does not include this aspect, although a referendum on the subject has been promised. The Senior Advisory Group (SAG), composed of prominent Aboriginal Australians, was the first body set up.

Background
See also: Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians

Calls for an Indigenous voice have been made for a long time. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner specifically called for a voice in the Human Rights Commission’s Social Justice Reports published in 2006, 2008 and 2009; as did the Cape York Institute in 2012 and 2015.[1]

The more immediate impetus for the voice to parliament arose from the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart and, consequent to this, the November 2018 Final Report of the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. There were four recommendations in the report, the first of which was: "In order to achieve a design for The Voice that best suits the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the Committee recommends that the Australian Government initiate a process of co-design with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples".[2]

Setup

On 30 October 2019, Ken Wyatt AM, Minister for Indigenous Australians in the Morrison Government, announced the commencement of a "co-design process" aimed at providing an Indigenous voice to government. The Senior Advisory Group (SAG) is co-chaired by Professor Tom Calma AO, Chancellor of the University of Canberra, and Professor Dr Marcia Langton, Associate Provost at the University of Melbourne, and was to comprise a total of 20 leaders and experts from across the country.[3] There was some skepticism about the process from the beginning, with the criticism that it did not honour the Uluru Statement from the Heart's plea to "walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future".[4] According to Michelle Grattan, "...it is notable that it is calling it a 'voice to government' rather than a 'voice to parliament' ". Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejected the proposal in the Uluru Statement for a voice to parliament to be put into the Australian constitution; instead, the voice will be enshrined in legislation. The government also said it would run a referendum during its present term about recognising Indigenous people in the constitution "should a consensus be reached and should it be likely to succeed”.[5]

The models for the Voice were planned to be developed in two stages:[5]

  1. First, two groups, one local and regional and the other a national group, will create models aimed at improving local and regional decision-making, and identifying how best federal government can record Indigenous peoples' views and ideas. The groups consist mainly of Indigenous members.
  2. Consultations will be held with Indigenous leaders, communities and stakeholders to refine the models developed in the first stage.

Wyatt said that he doesn't mind what models are used, and they may vary across the country. His prime targets are suicide prevention and Closing the Gap. A meeting with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, senior ministers and peak Aboriginal community representatives had agreed on “priority reforms”, which included greater Aboriginal involvement in decision-making and service delivery at all levels, and a commitment to ensuring that “all mainstream government agencies and institutions undertake systemic and structural transformation to contribute to closing the gap”. Wyatt said that he would need to manage expectations on all sides as he seeks to build a consensus on the matter.[6]

Membership of the three groups

SAG

The original other members of the SAG (besides Langton and Calma) were as of November 2019:[7][8]

The first meeting of the group was held in Canberra on 13 November 2019.[9] It was planned that the SAG would propose models for the voice by June 2020.[6]

Cashman was dismissed from the SAG on 28 January 2020 after her involvement with commentator Andrew Bolt in denouncing the Aboriginal identity of author Bruce Pascoe.[10][11][12]

With Buckskin taking up his new role on the Local and Regional in March 2020 (see below), as of July 2020 he was no longer on SAG, which now included Geraldine Atkinson, Marcia Ella-Duncan, and Daryle Rigney, bringing the total number to 18 including Langton and Calma.[13]

National group

The National Co-design Group was announced on 15 January 2020, to be co-chaired by Dr Donna Odegaard AM and Ray Griggs AO, CSC. The other 15 members include Fred Chaney AO, Joseph Elu AO, Jeff Kennett AC, Fiona McLeod AO, SC, and Gracelyn Smallwood AM.[14]

Local and Regional group

On 4 March 2020 the third tier, the Local and Regional Co-Design Group, was announced, to be co-chaired by Peter Buckskin and National Indigenous Australians Agency senior official Letitia Hope. Members included Dr Getano Lui, Albert McNamara, Aden Ridgeway and Marion Scrymgour.[15][16] The group met for the first time in Sydney on 19 March 2020.[17]

From the Heart campaign and public opinion

From the Heart is a campaign designed to increase awareness and understanding of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and a constitutionally-enshrined Voice to Parliament, and to show that it is a fair and practical reform.[18]

Research commissioned by From the Heart and conducted by the C|T Group in June 2020 shows that a majority of Australians support a constitutionally-enshrined Voice to Parliament, and that this support has increased 7 percent in three months, from 49 percent in March to 56 percent in June 2020. There were 2000 participants in the survey, who were asked, "If a referendum were held today, how would you vote on the proposal to change the Constitution to set up a new body comprising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that gives advice to federal parliament on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues?”. Only 17 percent said they would vote no, down 3 percent since March 2020.[19][20]

Interim report (January 2021)

In November 2020, a report by the Senior Advisory Group led by Langton and Calma was delivered to the Government. Minister Wyatt described it as "very comprehensive", and said that he was hoping that legislation establishing an Indigenous voice to government would be passed during the current term of government.[21]

The interim report was officially published on 9 January 2021. It includes proposals that the government would be obliged to consult the Indigenous voice to parliament whenever it was going to create new legislation relating to race, native title or racial discrimination, where it would affect Indigenous Australians. However, the Voice would not be able to veto the enactment of such laws, or change government policies. The Voice would be comprise either 16 or 18 members, who would either be elected either directly or come from the regional and local Voice bodies.[22]

Also on 9 January, Wyatt announced a second stage of co-design meetings lasting four months, involving more consultation with Indigenous people. The final report is expected to be published between June and August 2021.[23]

See also

References
  1. "The Process". Indigenous Voice. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  2. Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (November 2018). Final report. Commonwealth of Australia. ISBN 978-1-74366-926-6. Retrieved 18 July 2020. ...licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License. PDF
  3. "A voice for Indigenous Australians". Ministers Media Centre. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  4. Synot, Eddie (30 October 2019). "Ken Wyatt's proposed 'voice to government' marks another failure to hear Indigenous voices". The Conversation. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  5. Grattan, Michelle (29 October 2019). "Proposed Indigenous 'voice' will be to government rather than to parliament". The Conversation. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  6. Allam, Lorena (1 February 2020). "Man in the middle: Ken Wyatt on being caught between the Uluru statement and his party". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  7. "Voice Co-Design Senior Advisory Group". Ministers Media Centre. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  8. Remeikis, Amy (8 November 2019). "Chris Kenny added to group working on Indigenous voice to parliament". the Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  9. Wellington, Shahni (13 November 2019). "First meeting held by senior body for Indigenous Voice to government". NITV. Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  10. Allam, Lorena (28 January 2020). "Josephine Cashman sacked from Indigenous advisory body after letter published by Andrew Bolt". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  11. "Businesswoman ousted from advisory group after Andrew Bolt claim". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  12. "Letter revealed to contain paragraphs lifted from academic papers and websites". NITV. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  13. "Indigenous Voice". Senior Advisory Group. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  14. "National Co-design Group". Indigenous Voice. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  15. Fryer, Brooke (4 March 2020). "Newly announced advisory body tasked with giving communities a voice". NITV. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  16. "Indigenous voice Local and Regional Co-Design Group announced". National Indigenous Australians Agency. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  17. "First Meeting of the Local & Regional Co-Design Group". National Indigenous Australians Agency. 19 March 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  18. "Our People - The Uluru Statement". From The Heart. 15 March 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  19. Wellington, Shahni (15 July 2020). "'Hugely encouraging': Voice to Parliament advocates boosted by poll". NITV. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  20. "Poll Shows Strong Rise in Support for Constitutional Change to Create Indigenous Voice to Parliament". From The Heart. 15 July 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  21. Doran, Matthew (15 November 2020). "Minister Ken Wyatt wants Indigenous voice to government to pass Parliament before next election". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  22. "Indigenous voice to parliament to have no veto power under interim plans". the Guardian. 9 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  23. "Indigenous Voice to parliament will get no veto power under interim proposal". SBS News. 9 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.

Further reading
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