Progressive Black dissent against the Voice to Parliament

A breaking of the silence, guest article by Steve Jones

After his home state became the first to reject the Voice to Parliament referendum, prominent Tasmanian Aboriginal campaigner Michael Mansell looks across the Tasman Sea for inspiration.

"Tomorrow the fight continues, and the fight is for our liberation...we want freedom, we want liberation and we want restitution."

Ned Hargraves on the Voice referendum

As part of Woroni’s coverage of the referendum, we have chosen to release articles covering both arguments in support of and in opposition to the Voice to Parliament, contributed to by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. ... As such we put questions to Ben Abbatangelo, a Gunaikurnai and Wotjobaluk leader, writer and storyteller.

Keiran Stewart-Assheton unpacks the genesis of constitutional recognition and the Voice and explains why it should be opposed.

On the eve of the referendum, Gunaikurnai and Wotjobaluk writer Ben Abbatangelo shares some final Blak thoughts.

Indigenous leaders say they’re already bracing for the result of the referendum, be it Yes or No, and the inevitable emotional toll it will take as the year’s long campaign for a Referendum on recognition and a Voice to Parliament concludes.

GUEST: Jennetta Quinn Bates, Barkindji woman and freelance journalist

Terry Mason on holding the government and the Executive to their responsibilities after the Voice to Parliament referendum.

A Yes or No outcome doesn’t change the fact that the real work remains to be done, writes Senator Thorpe.

Keiran Stewart-assheton Interview on ABC News Breakfast. A call for Black lead self determination and not a tokenistic and toothless advisory body or recondi...

Why I don’t support the proposed Voice to Parliament: I’m writing this as a Nyikina Djaru woman, with all my love and respect to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with different opinions.

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has written to clarify her stance on the Voice to Parliament following her comments backing a legislated Voice model in a radio interview on Thursday.

Aboriginal activist Jimmy Everett-Puralia Meenamatta doesn't believe the Voice would result in meaningful change for First Nations people. Instead, he'd prefer to see a treaty.

Legendary Aboriginal Rights activist Michael Mansell has declared that Australia will vote “No” in Saturday’s upcoming Voice to Parliament referendum.

WE THE FIRST NATIONS PEOPLES SAY!
NO TO REFERENDUM
NO TO COLONIAL RACIST CONSTITUTION
NO TO ASSIMILATION
JUSTICE TRUTH DE-COLONISATION! STOP THE LIES!

What has been dubbed the “progressive No” case comes from a very different direction than the conservative “No” campaign, yet it reaches the same conclusion. So what is its objection to the Voice? So what is its objection to the Voice?

Today we speak to the face of the “progressive No” case, Senator Lidia Thorpe.

Boe Spearim, Gamilaraay, Kooma and Murrawari man and convenor of grassroots activist group Treaty Before Voice, discusses what sovereignty and expressing sovereign rights means to him.

The Voice final pitch.

Members of the "progressive No" movement say their work will continue no matter what the referendum's outcome is.

Gary Foley argues that most Australians are not sufficiently informed about, or capable of coming to terms with, Australian history to vote in the upcoming referendum.

The Paris End speaks with Celeste Liddle about the Voice

I am voting NO. Period. #referendum #yes23 #voice #voicetoparliament #sovereign #australia

Many respected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have long rejected the government's version of constitutional recognition. Their voices have gone unheard.

While the prime minister has deflected questions about a national treaty, some Indigenous sovereign No campaigners want Australia to talk about it.

The second of three conversations Tom Tanuki is having with Indigenous activists currently holding three different positions on the upcoming referendum on constitutional recognition and a Voice to Parliament. This conversation is with Keiran Stewart-Assheton, a Yuin activist and president of the Black Peoples Union.

She remains committed to voting against the Voice, although she says the mainstream No campaign is "part of the problem".

I can see the failure of the referendum making a whole lot of Blackfellas sit up and think and realise again, what we realised back in ’67, that our best efforts to achieve our aims are always at our own behest, under our own control. A whole new generation of Black activists deciding hang on, to hell with the rest of them, let’s just focus on our own communities and start building up the strength of our own communities.

Ngambri woman Leah House says she supports a "progressive No" vote. Dr Tjanara Goreng Goreng, from the Blak Greens, calls for Treaty.

The radical No vote to an Indigenous Voice to Parliament found its own voice in Canberra on Saturday, with the revolutionary Black Peoples Union holding a meeting to reject moderation and reconciliation in favour of a “reckoning” with Australia’s past.

Via Jeannetta Quinn-Bates: Australian Greens First Nation Network (@BlakGreens) have shared the following document urging voters to #VoteNo or abstain from voting in the #Referendum2023

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy states it’s not taking a position on the Voice referendum, as the whole process has been run by the state in a manner at odds with ancient legal principles.

The first of three conversations Tom Tanuki is having with Indigenous activists currently holding three different positions on the upcoming referendum on constitutional recognition and a Voice to Parliament. This conversation is with Celeste Liddle, an Arrernte activist, writer and commentator.

Senator Lidia Thorpe has been a vocal opponent of the Voice referendum with Australians expected to vote in the referendum in less than 3 weeks.

Join two of Tasmania’s most experienced Aboriginal leaders as we critically consider the ideas and arguments that have formed the debate, and ask where the outcome of the Referendum will take us as a nation.

Speakers:
- Kerry Sculthorpe, Tasmanian Aboriginal leader
- Michael Mansell, Tasmanian Aboriginal leader, activist and lawyer

Senator Lidia Thorpe has been a vocal opponent of the Voice referendum, saying it doesn't go far enough, it's "racist", and has instead been pushing for treaty. But she's told the government she could pull back on her criticisms of the Voice, if more is done to implement the recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

Michael Mansell is an Aboriginal lawyer who practised law from1984 to 1996 and retired from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre in 2012. He is currently Chairman of the Aboriginal Land Council. While still active in the Aboriginal struggle, he is now spending more time writing on solutions for Aboriginal people. His book Treaty and Statehood: Aboriginal Self-Determination was published by Federation Press in 2016.

Kokotha Elder Sue Haseldine and Yuwullarai woman Kirstie Parker sat alongside each other in the Circulating Library of the State Library of South Australia for a special broadcast of The Drum.

Natasha Wanganeen and Uncle Charlie Jackson discuss their differing opinions on the Voice to Parliament. #VoiceReferendum 📺 The Point | Tuesdays 7.30pm and catch-up on SBS On Demand

As the debate over a Voice to Parliament continues, the highly politicised First Nations voices who have long called for treaty are increasingly being ignored.

Senior initiated clan leader of the Yolŋu Nation of North East Arnhem Land, Rev Dr Djiniyini Gondarra OAM outlines his position on Treaty and the upcoming Voice Referendum.

It isn’t a “minority perspective” to defend sovereignty - if you perceive that to be the case in a forum then censorship is happening in that domain

Veteran grassroots Aboriginal activist Wayne Wharton wore the reason for his objections on his his T-shirt, as he shouted at Yes supporters on a bridge in central Brisbane. “You’re a thief, a liar and a gatekeeper,” he yelled, to a mix of ages and races walking by. “Give back what you stole, give back what you stole, give back what you stole."

Chairman of the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania, Michael Mansell, says the referendum should never have been proposed. If the referendum fails he argues that the next logical step is to call for a National Treaty Convention.

Celeste Liddle: Rather than Australians going to the booths considering the merits, or lack thereof, of a simple advisory body with no legislative power, we have instead been fed the politics of fear, or the politics of hope.

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Arrente woman Celeste Liddle believes that fear is winning the day in the Voice referendum discussion and that a process of truth-telling first could have achieved a different result. Pip Hinman and Ruth Heymann report.

The Voice from the perspective of a young woman doing her Year 12 Media Class documentary "Lets talk about the Voice". Includes interviews with Gregory J Fryer, Prof Gary Foley and Shiralee Hood? (10 minutes.)

12/09/2023 We often hear from Yes supporters that they despair at the thought of waking up in an Australia where the ‘no vote’ has been successful. These so-called progressives are desperate to ignore the inconvenient truth of both No campaigns, which is that they reflect the reality of the Australian colony far more than the Yes campaign could ever hope to.

Amby Downs is a marriage of field recordings, distorted sounds and cavernous reverberation pools that show connection to Country. “I could go on forever about this issue…. Given the current political climate, I guess my upcoming gigs and film presentations could be interpreted as unofficial propaganda for the Blak Sovereign Movement because of the conversations I hope to stimulate.” Amby Downs and Joe Rainey perform at the Substation on Saturday September 23.

Moree’s Indigenous community once suffered some of the country’s harshest racial discrimination. Now its leaders are not all convinced the voice is the answer to present needs.

Celeste Liddle "I’m at a time in my life where I have seen a lot of promises, a lot of lies, a lot of attacks on Indigenous communities, and not a lot of change. I therefore lack faith in the current political system and its ability to ever be that agent of change."

In this episode we have the president of the Black Peoples Union (BPU) talking about the history of black communism, the false impression of extensive consultation with First Nations peoples in the lead up to the writing of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the mass walkout of staunch radical Blactivists from the Uluru convention, the Race Power Section 51 (xxvi) of the constitution, detrimental policies and "dodgy programs" imposed on First Nations peoples by the Labor government and alternative solutions offered by the BPU.

Djab Wurrung woman Sissy Austin writes of the latest attack on another sacred tree on Country, and in the process points out the hypocrisy of the state and federal governments in relation to the voice to parliament.

In Tasmania's far north-west, 17 per cent of the population identifies as Aboriginal and some fear their voices will not be heard if the Voice to Parliament referendum passes.

Gunaikurnai and Wotjobaluk writer Ben Abbatangelo spoke to Solidarity on the Voice to Parliament

Wangerriburra and Birri Gubba activist Sam Woripa Watson told Green Left's Alex Bainbridge that left wing people should vote against the Voice.

On the day the referendum voting date was to be announced, I woke up with a heavy weight on my shoulders. I felt nervous, scared and angry.

Now the referendum has been announced, Ben Abbatangelo writes, we as a nation are being reminded, there’s no moral high ground between Labor and Liberal, and by extension, ‘yes’ and ‘no’.

Listen to the full episode here: https://triplea.org.au/listen/programs/lets-talk/lets-talk-episode-152-black-politics-with-chelsea-david/

Facebook Reels from NITV: Mob on the ground at Cummeragunja are reluctant to support the Voice to Parliament #RoadToReferendum #ThePoint

(Skip to 28:06 where Celeste enters the discussion.)

Now that the PM has announced the date of the referendum, it’s worth remembering that the zero-sum nature of referenda can unleash the kind of bruising rhetoric that does lasting damage to a political community, no matter the outcome.

Nioka Coe spoke out against the constitutional change, saying not one politician, aside from Senator Lidia Thorpe, had visited the embassy to discuss it.

Marianne MacKay speaks about why she doesn't consent to the Voice. "Anything the government do never supports the advancement of our people."

'I feel like we're going to come out of this beat up and at a loss' #RoadToReferendum #ThePoint 📺

Lyall Munro Jnr talks about the flawed consultation during the Dubbo dialogue and at Yalara. After being treated with disrespect delegates from Victoria, ACT and Dubbo walked out of the conference. (Start at 8.04 - 42.55).

Blackchat - 10:07am 24-August-2023

Prominent senator says she does not believe the proposal will address the longstanding issues facing Aboriginal people.

Media release – Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania

Chair of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Land Council, Michael Mansell, has strongly condemned the national ALP conference for failing to support six designated Aboriginal seats in the Senate as a means of empowering Aboriginal people. Instead, the conference supported an increase in the number of senators from the two Territories.

We answer Guardian Australia listener questions about the referendum, including: why is the no vote leading? Does voting no maintain the status quo?

As an Aboriginal journalist that contributes to a range of media, here’s six themes that I believe have contributed to the malaise.

He's a trailblazing spiritual leader, civil rights activist and Dhurili clan leader who has been hailed Australia's Mahatma Ghandi. Now, as Reverend Dr Djiniyini Gondarra prepares the next generation for leadership, he wants Australia to know why he's planning to vote against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Senator Lidia Thorpe outlined five steps she believed were vital to achieving Indigenous self-determination:
➡️ Truth-telling about Australia's history
➡️ Implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
➡️ Implementation of recommendations from the Bringing Them Home Report
➡️ Writing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into Australian law
➡️Treaty

"[The Voice] promises to fix the Aboriginal problem. It is false hope because it is tricking people into genuinely believing that a powerless advisory body is going to protect our country and sacred sites, save our lives, keep our babies at home? The Voice is the window-dressing for constitutional recognition. We have rejected constitutional recognition before."

Senator Lidia Thorpe, Independent Senator for Victoria, addresses the National Press Club on the topic "It's Time For Us To Mature As A Nation".

I am part of the Aboriginal progressive No group which opposes the referendum on the Voice because after all that has been done to Aboriginal people, and all that needs to be done, a piddly advisory body is not the answer.

In conversation with Aboriginal Lawyer and Activist, Michael Mansell.

First Nations advisory committee accuses Merri-bek of hypocrisy.

Merri-bek Council's First Nations Advisory Committee has forced Council to listen to its views on the Voice to Parliament referendum.

Ben Abbatangelo says a "No" outcome has "to be regenerative" for Indigenous Australians, while, Merrki Ganambarr-Stubbs talks about the importance of having local Indigenous voices to solve issues in their community. Watch the full episode here: https://bit.ly/3KsZWG4

While the Prime Minister 'yeah, nahs' about Treaty, our demands have always been as clear as the air before colonisation.

Nerelle Nicol: I’m not saying I support the same reasons as the other "no" voters; it’s simply a decision that’s based on my own personal experience, knowledge and from all the political forums I’ve been part of in my lifetime. It’s also a decision I’m taking as a mother and as a grandmother.

Excerpts from: Trawlwoolway & Pinterrairer lawyer & activist Michael Mansell speaking to the National Conference of Community Legal Centres earlier this year. Wiradjuri & Gamilaroi poet, writer, community activist and podcaster Lorna Munro, in a conversation with Let’s Talk..Social Justice host Kevin Yow Yeh. Darumbal and South Sea Islander researcher, educator and community worker, Dr. Melinda Mann.

Darebin Labor's push for endorsement of the Voice to Parliament undermines Darebin Council's stance on Aboriginal consultation.

ATSIC demonstrated the importance of an Indigenous voice in the administrative mix, and it did meet expectations. Perhaps we need to take seriously ATSIC’s biggest lesson: the need for governments to be accountable and meet theirs.

The campaigns for and against a voice to parliament are ramping up with pamphlets finalised and ready to be sent out. Michael Mansell from the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania is against the proposal. He says the referendum should be abandoned to avoid what he describes as social division.

The Blak Sovereign Movement has refuted the Yes Pamphlet's eight reasons to vote for the Voice Referendum, and released instead a list of reasons to vote no.

Ghillar Michael Anderson, a Euahlayi Elder and Blak Sovereign Movement member, told Virginia Trioli that Aboriginal people were not guaranteed to be heard through a Voice to Parliament.

We, the Blak Sovereign Movement, have been consistent in our opposition to constitutional recognition and the Voice to Parliament. We are First Nations Elders, activists, academics and community workers that have been united by our work on the frontlines of the battle against colonisation, our commitment to Truth-telling and the value we place in our Sovereignty over this land.

With the recent pamphlets of the Yes and No campaign, regarding the Voice to Parliament Referendum, it is crucial to understand that whether you choose to vote Yes or No Australia is still guilty.

Solidarity spoke with Marianne Mackay, a Nyoongar woman from WA who travelled to Canberra in June to join with Lidia Thorpe and other Aboriginal people opposed to a Voice to Parliament, and Wayne Wharton, a Kooma man and longtime Indigenous activist organising with the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy, who is travelling around the country to campaign against the Voice.

At this moment, Blackfullas are being routinely punished, in their personal and professional lives, for daring to speak freely about a referendum that will supposedly change our lives forever. Munanjahli and South Sea Island woman and Associate Professor Chelsea Watego shares why mob are staying silent when asked about the Voice to Parliament.

Independent Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe has announced the Blak Sovereign Movement will publish their own statement this week in relation to the Voice to parliament referendum.

We need to get our land back, get every kid out of the prison system and end Black deaths in custody. Don’t you think I’d be saying “Yes” if this powerless body had a say in any of those things? Djab Wurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara Senator Lidia Thorpe explains.

Slightly buried in the Voice referendum debate, or at least the public debate, are views that are not conservative 'no', not progressive 'yes', and being unsure how to vote. Luke Pearson and Celeste Liddle explain why they're so torn.

Ned Hargraves says many in his remote desert community still do not understand what they will be voting for, and is calling for the Voice referendum to be postponed so people have to chance to understand it.

The Indigenous Voice to Parliament is born out of white appeasement, not Black ambition. Let’s not pretend we were offered a blank canvas.

Voting ‘No’ is a vote of support for Aboriginal self-determination. This presentation by Michael Mansel centres around the debate about Aboriginal self-determination, giving Aboriginal people direct decision making as opposed to Aboriginal subordination (advising others to make decisions about us).

Gary Foley, an Indigenous rights activist and historian, has spoken out against all aspects of the upcoming referendum on whether to alter and enshrine into the Australian Constitution an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament.

Marisa interviews Wani Wandian man and President of the Black Peoples Union(link is external), Keiran Stewart-Assheton, about the BPU's progressive NO campaign(link is external) in regards to the Voice to Parliament, alternative initiatives and also about their demands and recommendations to achieve true change for Mob in this country. (Start at 35:15)

Ideas like The Voice to Parliament, that non-Indigenous people have cooked up for our supposed betterment, are an ideological battle ground that we have been forced to fight on.

Ghillar, Michael Anderson, Convenor of the Sovereign Union, last surviving member of the founding four of the Aboriginal Embassy and Head of State of the Euahlayi Peoples Republic provides an insight into the progressive No Vote of the referendum and the First Nations Peoples Voice to parliament.

Arrernte woman, Celeste Liddle, discusses the reasons why she is undecided in relation to her vote in the upcoming referendum.

Tasmanian Aboriginal leader, lawyer and author Michael Mansell explains the diversity of No voices in the debate.

We caught up with Ghillar Michael Anderson to understand his concerns with the proposed Voice to Parliament and the upcoming referendum. We talk through the grassroots opposition to the upcoming referendum on constitutional recognition and the proposed Voice to Parliament, and the erasure of what Anderson calls the “progressive” No vote from mainstream media reporting. (Starts at 17:02)

Leaders of the Blak Sovereign Movement gathered at Parliament House on Tuesday to discuss their stance on the passing of the Voice Bill, Treaty and Sovereignty. A number of Elders and other advocates met privately before addressing the media.

The Blak sovereign movement will oppose opposition to the Voice to Parliament. Interview with Marianne Headland Mackay.

The Blak sovereign movement (BSM) have declared their opposition to the Voice to Parliament, calling the proposed body 'a weak proposition'.

Ian Brown, a member of Gamilaraay Next Generation, says he'll be voting 'no'. (Watch from 2:18)

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has hit out against the voice referendum, saying the body would be a powerless advisory group.

An explanation of the progressive NO position on the Voice.

Australians are asked to change the Constitution to benefit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. But is truth being told in the national Parliament and can we trust that political plans for the future will genuinely benefit the First Peoples? (Les Malezer)

Contributor to The Saturday Paper Ben Abbatangelo, on why governments can’t get away with saying the Voice is the only answer.

The focus on the future is obscuring what’s happening in the present – all of which is a violent continuation of the past. There is so much the Albanese government could be doing right now to improve the lives of First Nations communities, but it isn’t.

Karen catches up with Nala Mansell from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre to hear about some of the palawa community’s concerns about the proposed Voice to Parliament and the upcoming referendum. Nala is a proud palawa woman who has dedicated a lifetime to fighting for rights and for justice for Aboriginal people in lutruwita/Tasmania.

I've lost a lot of people in the decades I've been fighting for our rights, and seen no improvements for our mob. I don't think the Voice will change that, writes Gwenda Stanley.

In this episode of Let’s Talk…Referendum, host Karen Paterson catches up with Kooma, Murawarii and Gamilaraay podcaster and activist Boe Spearim.

Later this year, Australians will vote on a referendum to enshrine an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, but many Indigenous Australians remain undecided, reflecting the complexities of the issue.

Australia's mining giants won't commit to leaving Indigenous landmarks untouched if advised to by the Voice to Parliament.

The veteran campaigner says referendum will fall victim to polarised politics and says previous advisory bodies were cast aside.

A Melbourne Aboriginal corporation has announced their formal position on the Voice won't be made public until a sit-down with Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney.

Recent weeks have seen Peter Dutton become the most prominent voice in a debate about an Indigenous advisory body, whilst true Black opposition is being suppressed.

This panel was hosted on Gadigal Country on the 12th April 2023 by the Centre for Global Indigenous Futures (CGIF) and Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics (CAVE).

The Darebin Aboriginal Advisory Committee will not be rushed into endorsing a 'yes' vote in the Referendum.

Australia's political and media spaces rarely require Senator Lidia Thorpe's input on her various 'scandals' of 2023.... so here's an exclusive chat with Lidia to get some facts straight.

How many times do we have to say, “We are not an homogenous group of people in this country.” We have our language. We have our boundaries that make us different from each to the degree we are individual and diverse Nations.

To heal this Country, we need to tell the truth. Truth-telling and Treaty will lay the foundation to ensure any changes in the constitution are meaningful, not tokenistic.

Unlike true Aboriginal sovereignty, the Voice will see white people decide what is good for us while we advise them, writes Michael Mansell.

Outspoken lawyer Megan Krakouer, Perth's Citizen of the Year 2023, says the Voice will be irrelevant, powerless and toothless with 'no guarantee of change'.

Amy McQuire highlights the diverse range of Indigenous voices who hold dissenting views on the Voice proposal, and emphasises the need for genuine consultation and informed consent in the decision-making process.

Jason Kelly, who was elected to Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly, shared his view about the Voice and grassroots communities and asked the panel, "How will a federal Indigenous Voice to Parliament make any difference in closing the gap?"

Lola Forester chats with Paddy Gibson, a Senior Researcher at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research – University Of Technology Sydney (UTS) about the upcoming Referendum on an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament.

Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts shares her concerns about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, including with how some Aboriginal people and perspectives have been neglected in the process.

The final wording for the Voice to Parliament referendum question has been announced. However, there is still apprehension from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people around the country about what this ‘Voice’ is going to look like in practice.

'Our mob already have a voice but who's listenin?': Guyala Bayles' poem on why she's not supporting the Voice to Parliament

As the debate ahead of a referendum for an Indigenous Voice to parliament continues, listening to different First Nations perspective is paramount.

Aboriginal representative organisations go back to the 1920's - before the end of the Frontier Wars.

Recently had a yarn with Nawoola as she explained why she is not a supporter of the Voice to Parliament. (Start at 6:26).

Grassroots campaigners for a ‘no’ vote in the Voice to Parliament referendum say the proposed constitutional changes won’t make a difference to the lives of Aboriginal people. The Black Peoples Union will hold protest rallies against the Voice in Bris...

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have never ceded sovereignty to the Australian government. The history of colonisation in Australia is a history of theft and exploitation of Indigenous lands, resources and labour.

Warlpiri presenter, Theresa Napurrurla Ross, asked people from Yuendumu and Ulpanyali about the Voice, and what changes they'd like to see in Central Australia and their communities if this Voice comes in.

I will give Albanese some advice: “You're a white man. Stay out of the debate on the Voice. Stop explaining it, stop prematurely selling it. Stop stifling your party's own Black voices.”

Indigenous leaders from Gippsland call for more details on the working logistics of a fair and equitable Voice to Parliament, warning that it must reflect the diversity of different cultural lore and practices.

Lidia Thorpe: "If you go around this country, and allow people to speak freely, you will hear their demands, and that is tied up in a treaty, not in a voice that has no power.

Please Prime Minister, Minister Linda Burney and others promoting the "yes" vote, have a full and frank conversation with the Australian people about the practical outcomes that will result from enshrining a Voice to Parliament in the Australian constitution

Indigenous leaders in the Pilbara say more work is needed to gain support for the Voice to Parliament as many in the community continue to question whether it will be able to meaningfully address the issues they face.

The plan for an Indigenous Voice to parliament was a result of the government-funded push for constitutional recognition that would deny any real rights, argues Paddy Gibson.

Lidia Thorpe’s resignation from The Greens has exposed the limits of the party’s radicalism and invigorated the debate about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Right-wing opposition of the Voice to parliament has been dominating the so-called ‘no’ campaign. First Nations communities calling for more detail and more discussion also have reason to oppose it.

Why is Thorpe departing to lead and how much support does the Blak Sovereignty Movement actually have in Australia? Here's what you need to know.

Veteran Indigenous right activist and academic Gary Foley says an Indigenous Voice referendum is "a diversion" from action on "real facts and issues".

Darumbal and South Sea Islander woman @amymcquire is a journalist and the University of Queensland's Poche Scholar. She was on #TheDrum on Jan 26 reflecting on Alice Springs and the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

More than 1000 people are expected to turn out for the Survival Day march in the CBD on Thursday, with protesters debating the Voice to parliament proposals.

Looking at substantial critiques of the Voice to Parliament by Indigenous activists, educators and writers, partly for the benefit of my Age-reading left-win...

Many Indigenous people are sceptical about the planned Voice to parliament, despite the media focus on its support. Solidarity spoke to Indigenous activists Callum Clayton-Dixon, Suellyn Tighe and Michael Mansell about the problems with the proposal.

While the Uluru Statement from the Heart includes truth-telling and a treaty, a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament is the first step that the government plans to take. If it goes ahead, it will be the first referendum since the republic vote just over 20 years ago.

As the nation ramps up for a referendum on recognising First Nations people in the Constitution, its helpful to reflect on the past decade of the debate and consider what a Voice could really do.

Opinion pieces by Michael Mansell, Heather Sculthorpe and Maggie Walter on Voice, Treaty and Truth, published in The Mercury on Saturday, 21 January 2023.

Greens take lead from First Nations advisory group, saying they need progress on truth, treaty and voice before they’ll support the referendum

The proposed First Nations Voice to Parliament has brought much debate, but why are we hearing so much from non-Indigenous people?

During his six-year term as ATSIC chairman Geoff Clark was seen by many as a polarizing figure - but love or hate him, Clark he has never wavered from being the voice of the grassroots Aboriginal society.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples want to know more about the proposed Voice to Parliament before voting yes in the referendum.

The Voice to the Australian Parliament provides no hope and no future for First Nations imprisoned by ongoing colonialism says Irene Watson.

Without power-sharing, compensation and the return of land, both native title and the Uluru Statement from the Heart fail Aboriginal people, veteran artist and activist Richard Bell says.

The Albanese government says it will implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart, but the move is challenged by a representative from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on Q+A.

In the pursuit of structural reform, Lynda June Coe, calls upon mob to remember protocol and respect the matriarchy.

Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) stands with incoming Greens Senator, Lidia Thorpe in her stance against Constitutional recognition. WAR opposes the push for a Constitutionally entrenched ‘Voice’ to Parliament, one of the three proposals of the Uluru Statement.

Celeste Liddle: As an Aboriginal voter who has been engaged in the sovereignty and land rights movement, I have long been critical of Constitutional change occuring before the long overdue negotiation of treaties.

Everyone knows the mining industry is interested in profits, but we've failed to grapple with the deeper questions about who has access to the earth's resources ― the very ground on which their profits are predicated.

THE ULURU STATEMENT - DON"T FALL FOR THE TRICK Here is what Wiradjuri woman JENNY MUNRO says about the Uluru Statement and the flawed processes by the Referendum Council that cooked it up. Jenny was a delegate at the convention in Yulara NT and was one of the many who walked out in disgust.

The recent announcement of the Uluru Climb closure in 2019 sparked a discussion with Anangu Tribal Elders and Members of the Uluru Kata-Tjuta Board of Management to request that the name of Uluru be taken off the Referendum Council's 'Uluru Statement from the Heart'.

Elders and representatives of several Aboriginal nations across Australia came together last week for an historical gathering at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra to formulate a response to the Uluru Statement.

A former chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples says a referendum on an Indigenous voice to Parliament will fail.

These videos from the First Nations Rise Up Gathering at the Aboriginal Embassy in Canberra, 22 - 25 June 2017 focus on the WALKOUT from the Referendum Council's National Convention at 'Ayers Rock Resort' near Uluru, NT.

Australia voted against the UN Indigenous rights declaration. We spoke with an activist about the nation’s continued regressive policies when it comes to Indigenous peoples.

The Recognise campaign has asked us to support change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people while bypassing us. Can Uluru change that?

Uluru summit delegates rejected constitutional recognition, in favour of a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous body. But other delegates want treaties to be established first.

This statement was posted on the National Tertiary Education Union website on May 30. The author, Adam Frogley is NTEU National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Coordinator and a Taungurung man from the Kulin Nations.

The Uluru summit rejected constitutional recognition, in favour of establishing a series of treaties, and a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous representative body.

50 years ago, 90% of Australians voted in favour of what they believed would be a “fair go for Aborigines” in supporting the amendment of two clauses within the Constitution. Fifty years on, there remain some uncomfortable truths about what those amendments did to improve the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.

A breakaway group of delegates have walked out of the Referendum Council’s Uluru talks, claiming it was a flawed process.

The Referendum Council is currently holding a series of 'Dialogues' at twelve locations around Australia. Attendance is by invitation only. The Sydney 'Dialogue' was held on 10 to 12 March 2017.

The cracks are starting to appear in the $15 million federal government-sponsored Recognise campaign, with a room of up to 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people last week delivering a stunning rejection of constitutional recognition.

The national Indigenous representative body has warned it is already receiving a backlash from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are determined to vote ‘no’ at any referendum into constitutional reform. It is perhaps the first time the b...