Why I am voting Yes in the Voice Referendum.
It’s way past time that indigenous people, that is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, the owners and original inhabitants of Australia for over 65,000 years, were given a voice and officially recognised in The Australian Constitution which is only 122 years old.
They deserve and need to take their rightful, valued and meaningful place in our Constitution and in Australia’s history.
They have over 65,000 years of continual life and association with this ancient land and this needs to be officially recognised as does their complete culture, heritage, way of life, their food, languages, tribes and their own many nations within Australia.
Indigenous people’s way of life, their laws, practices, food, hunting, social structure, management of land, nature and conservation needs to be taught very thoroughly in all schools, starting at kindergarten and pre-school.
It needs to take precedence over Australian history with white invaders and settlers but also we need the white/European history taught also.
History is my favourite subject and I love it and hopefully we will learn from it.
I’m 77 and my Australian history book taught at school was “Australian since 1766” – unreal and how arrogant.
We were taught very little about indigenous history and there were hardly any indigenous people in my high school in West Australia, even in Primary School in the ’60s.
We, white/European people so need to right the wrongs, terrible injustice and unfairness done to indigenous first Australians and I am so embarrassed at the complete arrogance, self righteous attitude and cruelty done to first Australians.
Taking children away from their parents, families and dividing families and forcing white’s way of life, culture and religion and virtually using Indigenous people as slaves, not paying them is, and was, obscene, cruel and so arrogant.
I’m so sorry and we need to give indigenous people a voice in matters that affect them.
Inclusion as one nation but with many cultures needs to be observed and valued.
The voice to parliament hopefully will be a good start to right the past and current wrongs and improve the lives of indigenous people and particularly in relation to their needs, concerns, health, housing, education, social inclusion, laws, engagement and equal opportunity for these overlooked and deprived people.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to have been regarded by the invading whites and Europeans as “flora and fauna”, not even humans, is incredible, incomprehensible and so arrogant and I’m ashamed.
Indigenous people, the first owners of this land, only make up about 3.5 per cent of Australia’s population.
That’s about 800,000 next to about 25 million white/European and many other nations in this country.
Please, Australian’s, do the right, just, fair and honourable thing here.
Vote yes on 14 October, 2023.
Indigenous people didn’t even have voting rights in their own country until about 1967 and at the referendum to include them got about 97 per cent of the vote.
Australia needs to come together as one nation and to accept, learn from indigenous people.
They have so much to offer and we all need to walk, learn and grow together.
– Lorraine Wright
Gympie
