Why I attended a YES rally supporting the Voice

I have to think hard to remember the last rally I attended. I think it was a rally to support the Independence of East Timor back in the late 1990s. I remember pushing a stroller along George Street in Sydney, chanting to the familiar refrain:

Not long after that, we moved out of Sydney and going to rallies became a just a little more difficult to organise with a young child. Then life became busy and while I supported many causes, I didn’t make it out onto the streets the way I did when I was younger.

This weekend, there were rallies all over Australia supporting the Yes campaign for an Indigenous Voice to parliament. A referendum will be held in three weeks to change the Australian Constitution which would allow an Indigenous body to give independent advice to the government of the day regarding laws and policies that affect Indigenous communities.

It was a beautiful day and thousands of people of all ages attended from near and far. There were people there who had fought for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to be recognised in the Constitution back in 1967, families, young activists, migrants, Indigenous leaders and more. We marched to Parliament House and made our voices heard, in the hope that Australians will make it possible for Indigenous voices to be heard.

Linda Burney, the Minister for Indigenous Australians and Member for Barton said that the Voice would make it possible to advise on

“Things like incarceration and child removal, housing, health and educational outcomes. This voice is about making sure that what happens in the federal parliament is going to be a positive step forward both in terms of us as a nation, but also the life outcomes for First Nations people in Australia.”

For me, the issue is simple. Do I want to support our most disenfranchised group in society to have a say in what is being done to them, or do I want things to remain as they are? Do I want life expectancy to continue to be approximately 8 years lower for Indigenous people? Do I want Indigenous students to be two and a half years behind their peers in educational outcomes by school-leaving age? And do I want to accept widespread socioeconomic disadvantage and health inequality which is similar to that experienced in Third World countries? If I want to see these statistics to change, my vote must be a YES to the Voice.

Do I believe that giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a Voice will fix all the inequalities outlined above? Of course not! But I do believe that it will make a tangible difference and give the message that non-Indigenous people not only care but are willing to listen. To me, that deserves a resounding YES.