'We have 6.2 million new friends': Voice campaigners to reflect on one year since referendum

On Sunday, October 13, the Uluru Dialogue will host a webinar on the Referendum campaign.

ANTHONY ALBANESE VOICE PRESSER

Aunty Pat Anderson was an architect of the Voice to Parliament campaign. She has urged the government not to let the other Uluru Statement elements to be forgotten. Credit: AAPIMAGE

A year on from the Voice Referendum, Uluru Dialogue co-chair Aunty Pat Anderson wants to focus on the positives and community.

“We can’t overlook what our people achieved last year," Aunty Pat, an Alyawarre woman, said.

"We have 6.2 million new friends who are ready to join us in the work that needs to be done to seek substantive change.”

This Sunday, October 13, the Uluru Dialogue and Mob23 are hosting an event to reflect on the campaign.

They are inviting people to attend a webinar to hear from a range of people who have worked tirelessly on First Nations constitutional recognition, many for decades.

Aunty Pat said the gathering was essential for the group to celebrate the efforts of community, in what is now the largest social justice movement in Australia’s history.
“We know lies plagued the Referendum campaign, with the aspirations of our people turned into the latest political football game with no rules," she said.

"But the Uluru Statement was never issued to the politicians, it was issued to the people and we can never lose sight of that.

“Our community is at the heart of everything we do.

We strive forward for them and that is what we will continue to do, now and always."
The panel will offer personal reflections from some of the most powerful moments of the campaign, including powerful imagery and a look to what’s next.

Panellists include Pat Anderson; Cobble Cobble woman Professor Megan Davis, co-chair Uluru Dialogue; Gunditjmara woman Jill Gallagher, chief executive of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation; and representatives from the Uluru Dialoge Wiradjuri man Geoff Scott, Pitjantjatjara woman Sally Scales, Wiradjuri woman Bridget Cama and Cobble Cobble woman Allira Davis.

Professor Davis said the webinar will allow Australians to reflect on the hard work and emotion of the campaign.
“We choose to focus on the unity of those Australians who supported the Yes," she said.

"This gathering invites us all to bring the conversation back to what unites us, and work towards our common goal of constitutional recognition for our peoples.”

People who wish to register for the webinar, can do so through the website.
Since the Referendum several states have made moves towards their own First Nations Voices to Parliament, Treaties and Truth-telling - the three pillars of the Uluru Statement.

South Australia established this country's first , which held its first formal meeting in June.

Queensland has begun a on its path to Treaty - although, if elected in the upcoming state election, the Liberal National Party has said it will abandon the process.
In Victoria, the is investigating injustice against First Peoples since colonisation.

And in NSW, the Labor Government has just appointed Aden Ridgeway, Dr Todd Fernando and Naomi Moran as to design a consultation process, likely to begin early next year.

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Published 11 October 2024 4:25pm
By Rudi Maxwell
Source: NITV


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