Being a Ten Pound Pom, I knew nothing of the history of massacres and dispossession of this continent’s first peoples when I arrived here in 1965.
At that time, First Nations people were not even counted in the Census, and barely recognised as human, let alone equals.
The White Australia policy was still in place. That wasn’t officially renounced until 1973, by the Whitlam government when it established a policy of multiculturalism.
My first personal encounter with racism against First Nations people was in Southern Queensland in the late ’60s. I had picked up an Aboriginal hitchhiker and, when I dropped him off at his destination, it was getting dark.
I asked him where he would spend the night and suggested the motel across the road. He replied, ‘They won’t let me stay there’.
I was shocked. I went to the motel reception and paid for a room for him. As I handed the keys to my hitchhiker friend, the receptionist gave me a truly disgusted look.
Over the years since then I collected old Aboriginal artefacts, bringing a number back from overseas, and a library of books. These books, several published in the 19th century, opened my eyes to the extraordinary richness of the ancient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
The coming of Europeans was devastating. The oldest continuous living culture on Earth was swept aside. Ancestral lands were seized and cleared. People were slaughtered and rounded up to live in camps, children were taken away from their families, and not even allowed to speak their ancient languages or practise customs. This led to intergenerational trauma. The truth of this must be told.
There has never been a treaty, even though Prime Minister Bob Hawke promised one in 1988, but it didn’t happen.
I was elected to the NSW Upper House that same year, on the preferences of The Aboriginal Team, headed by Wiradjuri woman, Millie Ingram. I vowed I would represent her people during my term in parliament and worked hard to do just that.
Acknowledgement
Now we have an opportunity with this referendum to finally acknowledge First Nations people in the outdated Constitution, put together by a group of white men one hundred and thirty years ago.
There was no input from women, who couldn’t vote federally until 1902, and no input, of course, from First Nations representatives, who had to wait until 1962 to be able to vote.
The referendum also includes a Voice to be set up by a subsequent act of parliament that ‘may make recommendations to the Parliament and Executive Government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’.
This Voice is not required to be guaranteed in the Constitution, and could be established with identical functions and powers by an act of parliament.
Being in the Constitution simply means there will always be a voice of some sort, and it can’t be denied by any incoming government. By opposing having the Voice in the Constitution, Peter Dutton is signalling he wants to be able to take that legislated Voice away altogether, if he is elected prime minister.
Some have misinterpreted the proposal to read into it, falsely, that there is an obligation on the government to act on the representations made by the Voice.
Constitutional expert, Professor Anne Twomey, has endlessly tried to explain that ‘representations’ cannot be regarded as ‘advice’ that must be followed.
Some First Nations representatives have expressed fears about sovereignty being affected. It cannot. Sovereignty can only be ceded by a nation agreeing to it.
Other ‘No’ voters have said ‘Would you sign a blank cheque?’ There is no blank cheque.
‘Where are the details?’ some ask. The fine details of the Voice will be debated at length in parliament. There will be extensive consultation right across Australia. Then parliament will vote on it.
If a majority of Australians votes down the referendum, there’s nothing stopping the federal government introducing exactly the same legislation. In fact, NSW Premier Chris Minns has already announced he is open to introducing a state Voice to parliament regardless of the outcome.
Scare campaign
This should never have been a political scare campaign. Moderate former Liberal leaders John Hewson and Malcolm Turnbull and other compassionate Liberals support it.
In my view, it is quite immoral that Peter Dutton, the man who walked out on the stolen generations apology, has created a divisive scare campaign without any authentic justification, just to score political points. He is supported by others on the hard right.
Sadly, if it does fail for no genuine reason, Australia’s international reputation will be in tatters.
Let’s hope the people of our region can show the rest of Australia and the world that we really do care.
Local Bundjalung woman, Delta Kay, will be voting ‘Yes’, as will at least an estimated 80 per cent of First Nations people.
Vote ‘Yes’ for Love ❤️
♦ Richard Jones is a former NSW MP, and is now a ceramicist.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
