The referendum will stand a far better chance with bipartisan support.
It was encouraging that shadow attorney-generalJulian Leeser was in Arnhem Land to hear Albanese’s speech but some Coalition MPs this week said they could not back a Voice until they saw the details.
Albanese has helped address those objections by releasing a draft text which gives a much clearer idea of what to expect.
Dutton himself has not yet taken a clear position on the Voice although he has said he is more concerned with practical measures which will improve Indigenous living standards.
His concern about improving the lives of Indigenous people is well placed.
In its annual report this week onClosing the Gap between Indigenous living standards and the broader community,the Productivity Commission found progress remains too slow.
Australia is not on track to meet targets set for 2031 in five of the nine socioeconomic outcomes the commission considered,including the share of Indigenous children who are developmentally ready to start school,the rate of imprisonment and suicide and the number of children living out of home care.
Yet,as Albanese said in his speech,creating a Voice is not an alternative or an obstacle to practical action but a complement to it. “Australia does not have to choose between improving peoples’ lives and amending the constitution.”
In fact,the Voice is not just a symbol of reconciliation. It is also an important step towards lifting Indigenous living standards. Governments spend millions and billions of dollars on programs intended to improve Indigenous lives but often the programs fail because they are imposed from outside without an understanding of local conditions or any involvement of Indigenous people.
The debates in the Voice between elected representatives who know conditions on the ground will improve the chances that government policies are sensitive to Indigenous needs and culture.
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If Dutton chooses to oppose a Voice on the pretext it is not a total solution to all the problems of the Indigenous community,it will be a fateful decision both for the country and for his party.
It will show the Coalition has not understood the outcome of the May election.
The Coalition lost the centre ground of Australian politics,including the Liberal Party’s heartland in the big cities,by clinging to ideologically driven conservatism,not just on Indigenous issues but on climate and gender.
Dutton has a historic chance to show bipartisanship and vision,just as the two sides of politics came together in 1967 to back a referendum on counting Indigenous Australians as citizens.
The Voice can be just as great a milestone in Australian history and identity.
For Indigenous people,it will finally acknowledge their special connection to our land and their special status as the longest continuous civilisation in the world.
For all Australians,it offers the chance to turn away from the misunderstanding and prejudice of the past to what Albanese describes as “the principles of respect and consultation”.
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