Leigh Shears, Hunter Workers Secretary
17 Feb 2023
Apologizing and committing to change was a well-meaning step forward, but it was always slated to fail without genuine consultation with the community it was intended to serve.
15 years ago on Monday, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gave his National Apology to the Stolen Generations in a monumental acknowledgement of our government’s responsibility for the deep trauma endured by Indigenous communities.
The same year the Australian government released the framework “Closing the Gap”, recognizing and aiming to rectify devastating discrepancies in health, life expectancy, incarceration rates and more.
This framework was a colossal failure.
Suicides, incarceration rates, the number of children in out-of-home care, and the proportion of Indigenous children who start school has worsened as the vast consequences of colonial assimilation policy continue to ripple across communities today.
Tragically, most socio-economic outcomes for First Nations Australians have remained painfully stagnant over 15 long years since Rudd’s apology.
Apologizing and committing to change was a well-meaning step forward, but it was always slated to fail without genuine consultation with the community it was intended to serve.
Simply, it is Indigenous Australians who understand the challenges on the ground in their communities.
As Union members we intrinsically know how important it is to have a voice.
We seek to make arrangements in our workplace structures that ensure we’re consulted before our employers make decisions that affect us.
It’s estimated just half of Indigenous Australians are empowered to vote; numerous programs and services that have historically assisted in voter education and access have been unceremoniously quashed by previous governments.
History has taught us that, critically, we must update the constitution to enshrine a First Nation’s Voice if we are to make genuine, enduring progress.
We know that 93% of Australians believe it is important for First Nations Australians to have a say in matters that affect them.
The Voice to Parliament is a manifestation of this, one that Indigenous leaders asked for in 2017 in the Uluru Statement to the Heart.
This was a culmination of countless years of close consultation with community across the country.
Since 1960 when we set up our first Aboriginal Subcommittee, Hunter Workers has walked with our First Nations brothers and sisters in their struggle for reconciliation.
63 years on, we will continue our work uniting the region, campaigning for a Voice.
It’s time we walked the talk. No more symbolic gestures, no more hollow statements, no more failed policy.
As a nation, we must enshrine the right to recognition and consultation into our constitution. We must vote yes for a Voice.