It was the last week of May in 2017,and the ambition at the Indigenous convention was as vast as the rock behind them. Also,in retrospect,as unmoveable. Within days of Yunupingu’s words,the 250 delegates rejected the idea of symbolic change to the constitution – recognition alone – in favour of the Voice.
On this day,May 26,they made their decision. They wanted a meaningful referendum with a practical outcome. This masthead’s late,great correspondent Michael Gordon was there to witness the decision,with photographer Alex Ellinghausen alongside to capture a moment in history. Gordon reported the overwhelming sentiment of the dialogue:the need for a proper settlement and real change.
The great hope around that campfire has waned over time – and this week faced an aggressive attempt to snuff it out completely. Thedenunciation by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in federal parliament on Monday sought to frame the Voice as a symptom of “identity politics” that favours one group over another. He called itan attempt to re-racialise the country – a warning of catastrophic division that sounds absurd to many but spreads the sort of anxiety and fear that can destroy a referendum.
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Dutton made a similar claim of disaster about the apology to the stolen generation in 2008. “It would beggar belief that they would be contemplating an apology that could open the government up to serious damages claims without knowing what those claims would be,” he said before abstaining from the apology. It took15 years for him to admit he got that wrong.
Some of the most compelling speeches in reply came from those within Dutton’s ranks. The former shadow attorney-general,Julian Leeser,rubbished the idea that the Voice would elevate those it was designed to help. “Some say the Voice will give Indigenous Australians a place of privilege,” he said. “Does anyone really believe that Indigenous Australians occupy a place of privilege?”
Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer also dismissed the idea the Voice would divide the country by race – a basic repudiation of her party leader.