Voice to Parliament: Katanning referendum forum listens and informs

WA Labor senator Sue Lines, member for the Agricultural Region, Shelley Payne and Reconciliation WA’s Jade Thompson visited Katanning on Tuesday to hold a community forum on the upcoming Voice referendum. About 35 members of the community, including local Indigenous leaders, attended the event held in the Katanning Town Hall from 4pm. After Wilomin Noongar elder Ezzard Flowers opened the information session with a welcome to country, Ms Payne took to the floor and outlined the McGowan Government’s commitment to an Aboriginal Voice to Parliament. “In many respects, what is happening on a Federal level is very similar to what has already happened on a State level in WA,” Ms Payne said. “We don’t have a constitution in WA, we’ve got the Constitution Act of 1989 and in 2014 the WA Parliament amended the Constitution Act to recognise WA’s Aboriginal people as the first people of Australia and the traditional custodians of the land.” Ms Payne elaborated on the similarities between structures that presently exist in WA and what is being proposed by the Voice on a national level. “In 2019, we also reinvigorated WA’s Aboriginal Advisory Council, a body the State Government can go to for advice on Aboriginal issues, so it’s very similar to what is being proposed.” Following Ms Payne, Senator Lines addressed the audience. ”Towards the end of this year, Australia will vote in a referendum to determine whether a Voice to Parliament and to government can be enshrined in the Australian Constitution,” she said. “I’m here today to explain the key facts.” Senator Lines said that having the Voice would mean that Aboriginal people will have a say in matters that affect them, something they have historically been denied. Voice representatives would connect their community with the government, performing an advisory role on Aboriginal matters. The Voice would not usurp or replace existing organisations and Voice representatives would be subject to the same standard of accountability, transparency and oversight as other government departments. The Voice would not manage money, deliver services or have veto power. The referendum will ask Australians if they agree that the Aboriginal people should have a Voice enshrined in the Australian Constitution. Unlike electoral ballots with preferences and ticks, the compulsory vote will require Australians to write either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. “It is a simple question,” Ms Lines said. Before attendees were invited to put forward questions, Ms Thompson from Reconciliation WA spoke alongside Senator Lines. “I think the importance of the Voice is that it could be a real nation-building moment for us,” she said. “What has been put forward is a combination of symbolic recognition and that practical element that will encourage Aboriginal culture and peoples’ voices so that they will have a lead into a self-determining space to put forward the ideas and solutions that the community has on the ground to make a difference.”