When they met in early February this year, every First Minister in Australia—territory, state, and federal—agreed to support the Voice to Parliament. This is a highly significant bi-partisan step by a group of informed leaders who recognise the importance of taking this step. It is only one step—there is still the matter of Truth Telling to be implemented, as well as Treaty (or, more accurately, Treaties) to be concluded. But the Voice is a key step forward.
The Prime Minister said that “the Voice will recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our constitution, and consult on matters affecting them”. The statement from the joint meeting indicated that the Voice “provides independent advice … is accountable and transparent, does not have a program delivery function, and does not have a veto power”. These are all important details that the Australian electorate should consider, when making a decision on this matter in the proposed referendum later this year.
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The structure of the proposed Voice to Parliament was set out in a report issued in 2021, co-authored by University of Canberra chancellor and now Senior Australian of the Year Professor Tom Calma and University of Melbourne Professor Marcia Langton. This report envisages a network of local and regional Voice bodies covering 35 areas Australia-wide, which would deal with issues raised by local communities and contribute members to form the national Voice.
Under the Calma–Langton proposal – the result of extensive consultation – each local region would determine for itself how it should be formed. The national body would have 24 members. They would comprise 18 base members, two each from every state and territory and two from Torres Strait. Another five members would represent different remote regions and one would represent Torres Strait Islanders living on the mainland.
The membership would be gender-balanced, with an option to include two more with specialist skills as required, jointly appointed by the federal government and the Voice itself. Members would serve no more than two four-year terms and two of them, of different genders, would be selected to serve full time as co-chairs.
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A few months before the First Ministers had signed their declaration of support for the Voice to Parliament, earlier this year, the Uniting Church had joined with many other religious organisations in Australia to sign a Joint Resolution of Australian religious leaders in support of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which includes the request for just such a Voice to Parliament.
The Joint Resolution was signed in May 2022, on the fifth anniversary of the Statement from the Heart, by representatives of nine Australian religious bodies. They called for immediate bipartisan action to hold a referendum on a First Nations voice to Parliament. Uniting Church President Rev Sharon Hollis was the signatory to the Joint Resolution on behalf of the Uniting Church Assembly. See https://uniting.church/supporting-uluru-statement/
The Statement from the Heart is a consensus statement which was born out of extensive discussions across the nation and finalised at a Constitutional Convention at Uluru in May 2017. The Statement offers a way forward for Australia that is practical, not merely symbolic. It advocates for the three key elements: Treaty, Truth, and Voice.
An Informed Faith 