Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney on Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory.

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney on Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

But behind closed doors,parcelled into quiet moments of reflection,are the tragedies that have ruptured her personal life.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of them both,” Burney says.

She is referring to her husband,Rick Farley,the “great love” of her life,who died in 2006 from injuries after his wheelchair overturned outside Balmain Hospital where he was being treated for a brain aneurysm. And her son,Binni,who was found dead in the family home in 2017 after battling addiction and mental health. He was 33.

Burney rarely speaks of her son publicly,but when she does she talks about a gentle,loving man who struggled with demons.

“I think when it’s things like suicide,the key is not to blame yourself,” she says.

“I see so many people that say,‘well,I could have done this,I could have done that’ – but that’s not useful. It doesn’t get you anywhere. I don’t blame myself. I know that I did what any mother would do. I know that he loved me. He sent me a beautiful message before he died,which I’ve kept on my phone.”

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Her anger has dissipated,transitioning slowly into a form of acceptance over that which cannot be controlled.

“There are always people in more difficult circumstances. I’m not angry. I used to be. Life serves up some stuff that you have very little control over. That doesn’t mean that you’re not sad,” she says.

Linda Burney takes a moment of reflection on Groote Eylandt.

Linda Burney takes a moment of reflection on Groote Eylandt.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

In May,at the age of 65,Burney,a Wiradjuri woman born in the small town of Whitton in the NSW Riverina,became the first Aboriginal woman to hold the Indigenous Australians portfolio. It was the latest achievement in the string of “firsts” across her 20-year political career:in 2003,she became the first Aboriginal person elected to the NSW parliament. Following a switch to federal politics in 2016,she became the first Indigenous woman to take a seat in the House of Representatives.

Her ministerial duties and travel schedule will intensify over the coming months as she criss-crosses the country in the lead-up to the referendum,which the Albanese government has committed to holding at some point in the 2023-24 financial year.

She will need to convince both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians that a constitutionally enshrined advisory body,the Voice,has the capacity to deliver real,practical change to the lives of First Nations people.

History shows Australians have been reluctant to embrace constitutional change – just eight of the 44 changes proposed since 1901 have been agreed to,with the last successful referendum held in 1977.

Burney acknowledges the stakes are high;failure will leave “a lot of people heartbroken”.

“I feel like I’m in the right spot at the right time,and I feel the responsibility. I understand the seriousness. I feel ready for this challenge,” Burney says.

“It will be an absolutely defining moment for this country.”

The Voice to parliament was the first of three sequential elements agreed upon by Indigenous leaders in the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart,along with a treaty-making and truth-telling process.

Linda Burney visits a rock painting site with Anindilyakwa Land&Sea Rangers on Groote Eyland

Linda Burney visits a rock painting site with Anindilyakwa Land& Sea Rangers on Groote EylandCredit:Dominic Lorrimer

Thepurpose of the Voice,proponents argue, is to be an advisory body to parliament and the executive arm of government,enabling Indigenous people to have a say on the policy and legislation that affect their communities,while constitutionalising the body will ensure it cannot be dismantled by future governments.

But serious criticisms have been levelled at the proposal with which the government must contend.

It remains unclear exactly how the Voice’s membership will be constituted – how many representatives it will comprise,from which parts of the country they will be drawn and whether they will be elected or appointed.

The draft amendment to enshrine the Voice in the Constitution is still being workshopped by a group of legal experts hand-picked by the government. Meanwhile,in wider legal circles there is a simmering debate about the scope of the Voice’s advisory role,and whether,in fact,a High Court challenge could expand its influence over government decision-making and laws.

Among those with concerns is Opposition Leader Peter Dutton,who has accused Labor of “making it up as they’re going along” and being unable to answer “even the most basic questions” about how it will function.

Burney maintains that the detail is being worked through behind the scenes with input from expert working groups the government has established. By the time Australians enter the voting booth,there will be “enough detail out there in the world for people to make an informed decision”.

 Linda Burney with Anindilyakwa Land&Sea Rangers on Groote Eylandt

Linda Burney with Anindilyakwa Land& Sea Rangers on Groote EylandtCredit:Dominic Lorrimer

“I have not given up on the hope that Peter Dutton will come on board. And if he doesn’t,he will be a by-product of history in my view,and I don’t think he wants to do that,” she says.

On the ground in remote Indigenous communities,the Voice can seem an abstract concept when faced with immediate pressing challenges such as abysmal school attendance rates,high unemployment,kidney disease and limited health services,overcrowded housing,and violence and domestic assaults.

NT Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price,a Warlpiri-Celtic woman from Alice Springs,is among the most staunchly opposed to the Voice within the parliament’s ranks,arguing it will add only another bureaucratic layer to the governance systems that have already failed to address such challenges.

“I think there’s more risk of those sorts of issues being swept under the carpet than actually being dealt with,” she says.

“If those who are seeking to have a transfer of power into the Voice haven’t already sought to sort out some of these issues,and they have been in power in the Aboriginal industry for decades already,how is that going to change with this other mechanism?”

Burney and other advocates insist that it is precisely these on-the-ground challenges the Voice,and the regional structures that will feed into it,will confront head on. As an example,she says,the Voice could assist in developing a standalone First Nations strategy to tackle domestic violence in communities.

Earlier this week,in an open-air school auditorium in Angurugu,a remote Aboriginal community on Groote Eylandt,about 50 kilometres off the east coast of the Northern Territory,Burney delivered the pitch she will repeat many times in the coming months.

 Linda Burney during the hand back of the Groote Eylandt Township Lease to the local community at Angurugu School on Groote Eylandt

Linda Burney during the hand back of the Groote Eylandt Township Lease to the local community at Angurugu School on Groote EylandtCredit:Dominic Lorrimer

“If you’re not on the[electoral] roll,get on the roll,” she said in a speech to a gathered crowd of about 200 people.

“One of the jobs that I have,everyone,is to make sure by the end of 2024,or thereabouts,that there is a referendum in this country to put our people in control of what happens in Canberra. That there be a voice of our people to tell the politicians what should happen.

“But it will only work if you support it. It will only happen if you vote for it.”

Most in the audience were local Anindilyakwa people,the First Nations people of the Groote archipelago,who had travelled from across the island to attend a historic lease hand-back ceremony,which Burney had flown in from Sydney to attend.

Mark Hewitt,chief executive of the Anindilyakwa Land Council,said the lease hand-back and the Voice were part of the same “coalition of commonality” that would empower local decision-making. He said the local radio station would be deployed to generate support for the referendum as the national vote edged closer.

“We can get the message out,same as we did during COVID,and galvanise people. I think people will respond positively to it,” he said.

It’s a very small piece of a countrywide slow build that Burney hopes will culminate in a groundswell of support across the nation by the time referendum day arrives.

“We’re taking this one step at a time so it will be successful. You don’t have to do everything all at once. You just don’t,” Burney says.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weeklyInside Politics newsletter here.

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