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Keywords: Indigenous Voice

  • AUSTRALIA

    Unpacking the Statement from the Heart

    • Glenn Loughrey
    • 14 December 2022
    1 Comment

    In reflecting upon the Statement from the Heart, we need to explore what it is, what it is not, and how it works. The creative dynamic of the Statement is that it is a tool of justice and heart-healing. It is restorative justice writ large, involving the elements that make up the process leading to a resolution of the past and a creative response to the future by enacting justice in the present.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    An Indigenous Voice: Truth, treaty and reconciliation

    • Frank Brennan
    • 01 December 2022
    15 Comments

    We have a lot of work to do if there is to be any prospect of a successful referendum on the Voice to Parliament, which Indigenous people have put to us as the mode by which they want to be recognised in the Constitution. They have said they want a Voice. Now, we can debate whether it be a Voice to Parliament or a Voice to Parliament and government, or a Voice just about particular laws.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Making My Island Home

    • Paul Mitchell
    • 18 October 2022

    ‘My Island Home’ was first recorded 35 years ago, a song that emerged from a journey and conversation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices. It’s helped Australians better understand our home and place in it, and points to the value of enshrining Indigenous voices in our constitution so they can continue to speak to us all. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The Path to a Referendum: From Uluru via Garma to Canberra and on to the People

    • Frank Brennan
    • 17 August 2022
    2 Comments

    We need to be able to do more than simply give notional assent to the Uluru Statement. We need to be able to contribute to the hard thinking and difficult discussions to be had if the overwhelming majority of our fellow Australians are to be convinced of the need for a Voice in the Constitution.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    A moment to dream about

    • Michael McVeigh
    • 07 June 2022

    Before the game, Richmond players of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent were encircled and then honoured by their teammates. The sight of non-indigenous Richmond players on their knees while their teammates stood proudly before them was powerful and moving. It felt like a significant moment in the club’s history. To get to that moment, authentically, was not easy.

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  • RELIGION

    Why thinking Indigenously is important for Australian theology

    • Garry Deverell
    • 18 May 2021
    19 Comments

    It is no coincidence that white ‘settler’ theology in this country has barely begun to engage with Indigenous people. Arguably, it has only begun to do so because the Indigenous citizens of the churches have begun to cast off the imaginative shackles made for us by our white gubbas and find our own voice.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Setting straight critics of a Voice to Parliament

    • Kate Galloway
    • 15 July 2019
    7 Comments

    Constitutional reform works at two levels. It would establish the institution of the Voice so that a future Parliament could not easily get rid of it. Doing so is also symbolic — but not merely symbolic. It recognises the place of Indigenous Australians within the Australian polity. This is not a divisive action. Rather it is inclusive.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Working for a shared Australian identity

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 08 July 2019
    5 Comments

    The NAIDOC theme returns to the other side of the relationship between First and later Australians — that of unity within a single nation — and invites cooperation in a project that matters to all Australians. At stake is not simply the fulfilment of Indigenous hopes but shared pride in an Australian identity.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Aboriginal issues are still not a vote-winner

    • Celeste Liddle
    • 10 May 2019
    7 Comments

    We can tell the Morrison government has no interest in Indigenous affairs because, apart from some money for suicide prevention programs (albeit less than half that requested), its budget showed a series of cuts. There is a lot of unfinished business to be addressed before it makes sense to adopt a voice to Parliament in the Constitution.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The chilling oppression of Camp Freedom

    • Celeste Liddle
    • 18 April 2018
    8 Comments

    If the powers that be are not keen on protests while Australia is on the international stage, the answer is simple: stop demonising Indigenous people and using our children as cannon fodder. You're not listening if you continue showcasing us on your terms while dismissing our political voice, denying our presence and erasing our history.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Aboriginal voices in 'the good country'

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 21 November 2017
    4 Comments

    Turnbull has been widely criticised for refusing a recommendation by the Referendum Council to enshrine a national Indigenous representative council, saying it was 'contrary to the principles of equality and citizenship'. A recent book provides a rich perspective for reflecting on his decision.

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  • RELIGION

    NAIDOC Week homily

    • Frank Brennan
    • 03 July 2017

    There is no point in proceeding with a referendum on a question which fails to win the approval of you, the First Australians. Neither is there any point in proceeding with a referendum which is unlikely to win the approval of the overwhelming majority of the voting public, regardless of when they or their ancestors first arrived in Australia. Given that you Indigenous Australians have spoken strongly through your representatives at Uluru in support of a First Nations Voice, it is now for the Referendum Council to recommend to government a timetable for constitutional change with maximum prospects of a 'Yes' vote.

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