Referendum: The Indigenous Voice to Parliament

First Nations Australians have, since the early colonial period, been engaged with the colony, initially in localised warfare to defend Indigenous sovereignty but as early as the 1830’s in ongoing actions about matters like treaties and Indigenous rights. At the time that Australia’s Constitution was drafted in the 1890s, First Nations Australians had already been dispossessed from large areas of land and were not consulted or considered in the Constitution. Now, following an Indigenous led, widely consultative process, there is a proposal for First Nations Australians to be explicitly included in the Constitution.

During 2023, the Australian people will be asked to vote in a Referendum. This Referendum will be to decide whether Parliament should enshrine an Indigenous voice into the Constitution - something which has not been mandated to this time. It is one step in enacting the recommendations from the Uluru Statement from the Heart (2017). There were three parts - voice, treaty and truth. The Referendum will be taking the first step toward enacting these goals. No date has been set at this time for the referendum to take place, but it has been proposed for 2023.

The last time Australia had a Referendum was 1999 and the last time a referendum centered around Indigenous peoples was in 1967, so there will be a lot of people voting in a Referendum for the first time as they were not yet born, were too young to vote or were not living in Australia, when the last one was held. 

The Guide is designed to supply information about referendums, the Voice to Parliament and the Uluru Statement of the Heart to assist people to be well-informed in making their decision about how to vote. There will be news articles, videos, scholarly articles and educational resources. 

The Guide is a collaboration between the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor Indigenous Leadership and the Western Sydney University LIbrary. 

In this Opening Address, Professor Megan Davis outlines the significant historical events leading up to the current Australian situation and provides context around the call for a Voice to Parliament. .