Image source: Audible
Reading Reflection written , April 2024
Australia didn’t just say ‘no’ to the 2023 Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum, It felt like we collectively screamed through a megaphone ‘shut up’! We essentially said, you don’t get to speak, we like you on mute; we're happy with what's in place now and how you feel about this is irrelevant.
It doesn’t make sense to me that over half a century ago the overwhelming majority of Australians united and voted to count Aboriginal people in our census and remove racist terminology in our constitution, giving the federal government the powers to make laws specifically for Indigenous peoples. Where's that same 1969 energy? Am I missing something? This would have been an even more monumental vote. It wasn't an easy pass for a selected panel to enact any policies or laws they wanted, it was to advise the government on issues that directly impact them. If nations were families, full of different personalities with good/bad and toxic traits, Australia you are one dysfunctional family, no amount of therapy or reform will help you as long as you remain sinking in the quicksand of denial.
I find myself continually returning to the concept of legacy and specifically what type of world do I want my son and daughter growing up in? I don't want my children growing up like me, not having seen the AIATSIS map and reading The Uluru Statement from the Heart until I was into my 30's. Just prior to the 2023 vote, I daydreamed about having family dinner banter with my curious future-pre-teens where it comes up in conversation that, yes it wasn’t until 2023 that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders had a formal platform to have a say in policies and legislation that impact their communities’ health, cultures and rights. In this daydream my children shake their heads in disbelief. Who knows when this knotch will be added to the ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders human rights timeline’, hopefully in my lifetime.
I used to think minds were like tides, having the ability to change in an instant. The closer I get to that looming grey-scale, I’m beginning to think minds are more like the root systems of trees. Those which are unwavering projecting only downwards appear to be the strongest; but it's the intricate networking root systems which map the contours of the shifting landscape which create more crucial support. If only we could mimic the interconnected highways of nature.
Read this when you’re interested in collaborative not transactional solutions to important issues. Read again and again for lifelines to First Nations resources, things you should be reading and people you should be listening to.