Do your research

Before you vote on the referendum do some research and carefully decide whether it will make any difference to the marginalised and vulnerable on the communities.

We already have ‘The Voice’. There is the National Indigenous Australian Agency (NIAA). Since May 2019, their vision is to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are heard, recognised and empowered. They recognise each First Nations community is unique and work in partnership with community to make sure policies, programs and services meet their unique needs. They work to support the Minister for Indigenous Australians. The purpose of the NIAA works in genuine partnership to enable the self-determination and aspirations of First Nations communities. We lead and influence change across government to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a say in the decisions that affect them.

There is the Empowered Communities (since 2019), which currently spans ten regions across urban, regional and remote Australia, and (since 2013) is fundamentally about facilitating place-based development. A critical component of this focus is a local and regional place-based approach covering the (now) ten regions and including provisions for other regions to opt in down the track. There are ten Empowered Communities regions “We come together as leaders from ten regions across urban, regional and remote Australia to drive change”.

Let’s not forget the other voices we already have – 3,278 Aboriginal Corporations, 243 Native Title bodies, 48 land councils, 35 regional councils, 122+ Aboriginal agencies, three advisory bodies, 145 health organisations, 11 Indigenous Federal MPs, 12 culturally important Indigenous days and there are councils, like Bass Coast that has a reconciliation plan.

Then there is the NT where extreme aboriginal disadvantage coexists with unique Aboriginal political power. One in three NT voters are aboriginal, there are six of 25 local MPs, including two of nine cabinet ministers and three of the four NT's federal MPs are all Aboriginal.

Name withheld