On Saturday, 14 October 2023, Australians will vote in a referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia through an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice enshrined in the Constitution.
This week, we heard from Stanwell Park's Kieran Tapsell, retired lawyer, author and Banksia Bushcare artist.
My ancestors came here from Ireland, England and Germany. I don’t feel any affinity with those countries, despite my biological connection with them. The only country for which I feel any connection is Australia. In Arnhem Land with my brother Tony, my Larrakia sister-in-law, Barbara, and my niece, Miranda, we came across an unmistakeable cave painting of a thylacine. It was painted 5000 years ago when the Egyptians were building their pyramids. All modern Egyptians, many of whom have no biological connection with the peoples of the Pharaohs, still look upon those monuments as part of who they are. That is the way I felt about that thylacine painting.
The Aboriginal Welcome to Country started 40 years ago and has now become mainstream. At public meetings, we recognise the original inhabitants of the lands on which we stand. There is a renewed interest in learning Aboriginal languages, in collecting Aboriginal art and visiting their ancient places. That can only have happened because so many of us see Aboriginal culture as part of our culture and our past, despite most of us not having Aboriginal ancestry.
Australia is a land of extremes with fires, drought and flooding rains. It has a strong culture for helping those in distress caused by natural phenomena, but that culture existed within the First Nations communities well before the arrival of the British colonists. In 1797, First Nations people helped the survivors of the Sydney Cove wrecked in Bass Strait to get back to Sydney, providing them with food and directions. There are many similar examples in our history. Maybe the harsh climate forced them to help people in distress, and it may also have forced us to become like them.
The Australian Constitution has its faults, such as S.59 allowing King Charles to annul any law passed by the Federal Parliament in the last 12 months. But it has worked well, and this change is not going to affect that, as former Chief Justice of the High Court Robert French and Justice Kenneth Hayne have said. It does not give First Nations people any veto over anything. The details of the Voice will be worked out in Parliamentary debate as happens with any other legislation.
There is a certain amount of déjà vu about some of the No campaign. We heard the same objections to native title after the Mabo and Wik decisions, that our backyards would be under threat. It never happened. That an apology for the Stolen Generation would result in a flood of court compensation claims. It never happened. The claim that the High Court will be inundated with challenges arising from the Voice is unfounded. Cost orders are powerful disincentives against people making silly claims.
This is the chance for Australians to show the better angels of our nature, to recognise our First Nations people in the Constitution and to set up a Voice, which is nothing more than an obligation on the government to listen. Compared to what other countries have given their indigenous minorities, such as seats in parliament and veto rights, this is a very modest proposal.
