“The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation to the Australian people from First Nations Australians. It asks Australians to walk together to build a better future by establishing a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution, and the establishment of a Makarrata Commission for the purpose of treaty making and truth-telling.” (from https://ulurustatement.org/the-statement/)
The “YES” I plan to cast in the upcoming referendum gains its cogency from the political wisdom implicit in the Uluru Statement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens to fellow citizens. It comes to our polity with a story of persistent political effort, over generations. The story having culminated in recent times now expresses a desire to justly and fairly raise a “First Nations Voice”. Of course indigenous voices can be heard in ongoing ways in our political life and they will still be with us in the days ahead. The Uluru Statement is an invitation delivered with deep conviction to all Australian citizens; we are asked to affirm a suggested amendment to the Constitution and thus cast a vote to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
Of course, this is about justice for Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; but not only for them. We, bound with each other as this polity’s citizens, stand in need of a constitution that is alive with due respect for all even while, in doing so, it should be especially explicit to those fellow Australian citizens who are descendents of those who resided in these lands long before British settlement.
The state-crafting responsibility of all citizens is always on the line; we are never just voters at election time or, as in this case, with Referendums. This invitation reminds us of our political responsibility for this place on our earth, located in the Indo-South West Pacific. That must also mean due respect for those who were here before the colonies were established, long before our Commonwealth’s Constitution was enacted. Our task as citizens involves ensuring that justice, due respect for all, characterizes all public governance. The Uluru Statement should be heard as a call to fulfill that inalienable responsibility.
Those extending this Uluru invitation are demonstrating sensitive political awareness of their duty for the health of this polity; they remind the rest of us of our solemn duties and responsibilities. Such shared responsibility makes us corporately accountable for how we are governed, how justice has been, is and will be administered, and for how the Constitution frames our life together.
The invitation of the Uluru Statement presupposes, as the Constitution presupposes, that our duty as citizens is to remain politically alert to how our public-legal life is being conducted under the Constitution. Our citizenship does not derive from any party allegiance. When the Constitution needs amendment – as the Constitution itself presumes it will need from time to time – we have a task to step up and do what we can to ensure that the proposed change is just and will enable the further promotion of justice in renewing and healthy ways. The Uluru Statement from the Heart is the latest example of citizens with indigenous heritage and identity “stepping up” to make their contribution to a just amendment to our Constitution.
The Uluru challenge is of course about a vote for a constitutional amendment, and it comes at this time as a call that can also deepen our appreciation as citizens for the part all of us are called to play in fomenting the political health of this our Commonwealth. And that must also include ongoing resistance to unhealthy political trends that these days live side-by-side with a sad lack of trust in our political party dominated Parliaments. The reform of our form of parliamentary democracy may well be needed. But will we allow our concerns with its current state in this polity to prevent us from voting “YES”? No.
There are many political issues with which we must wrestle, as we answer the call to humbly serve our neighbours at home and abroad with justice, with due respect to their place in our lives, and also for our own place in their lives. Our Commonwealth’s Constitution needs to explicitly affirm due respect for fellow citizens descended from those who resided here long before British settlement. This Uluru Statement from the Heart reminds us of our shared political solidarity under the Constitution with a challenge that extends due respect while inviting us to keep on walking together for justice.
The key point for me is this: there may have been no First Nations voice into the Constitution back at the turn of the 19th century when British Colonial Governments ceded power “up” to a Federal Government for an Australian Commonwealth, but it will certainly be a sign of our own Commonwealth’s maturity for our Constitution to now include the considered mature suggestion of how First Nations people are to be recognised in our corporate life. We should vote with thanks for the voiced leadership of the diverse First Nations people of our polity.
Contributions to Pearls and Irritations
Your contribution will fund quality independent comment and analysis in Pearls and Irritations
Contribute
