TESTIMONIALS

A great joy for me this year has been reconnecting with Professor Megan Davis and meeting her wonderful colleague Pat Anderson AO, co-architects of the Uluru Statement and fearless advocates for the Voice. They have seen and appealed to the very best in Australians, and the qualities that make me proud - decency, fairness, justice, empathy, compassion. They have continued to show hope, optimism, grace and dignity under great pressure. The invitation on the Uluru Statement is very deliberately issued to all of us, their fellow Australians - not to the politicians. What they have asked of us, a voice at the table, takes nothing away from non-Indigenous Australians but gives something of fundamental importance to Indigenous Australians. Let’s not let them down on October 14. Yes, yes YES!

NICOLE ABADEE

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Australians were told that Mabo would mean losing their backyards to native title. Handing back Kakadu would make it off limits. And tourism would fall at Uluru because you can’t climb anymore.

None of that happened. Because First Nations People said it wouldn’t.

I’m voting YES to the Voice. Not just because I think it’s well past time that time Australia listens to First Nations people. But because I think it’s time Australia believes them.

DAVID ALLAN-PETALE

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I'm proud to take guidance from strong, wise, and experienced mob who support the Voice. I recognise that this is a complex fight, full of frustrations and animosities. I recognise that we'll never find an easy solution to redress the ongoing violence of colonisation. But at the end of the day, why should Real Estate agencies and mining corporations get more of a say on law and policies than our own people? I support the Voice because I trust those who have led this fight to know this is our best step forward. I trust in our Elders, our leaders, our lawyers, our scholars, our lawpeople who have stood up and said YES. I trust in the people I love and learn from, and know that if this is what they want, then they know what they're talking about. 

EVELYN ARALUEN

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This is a remarkable opportunity: to reach out and accept the hand that Uluru is extending towards us. To walk together with genuine hope. To heal and listen and grow into the kind of nation we should be.

ROBBIE ARNOTT

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As a writer I feel compelled to support The Voice. Words matter. Equality matters. Indigenous Australians have lived on this land for 65,000 years. The Voice is their expression of inclusion. As an Australian, I believe it is my duty and honour to vote Yes. I am a writer, but in my day job, I practice medicine, including the provision of women's Indigenous health services. A fact which is clear to me, shared by the foremost journal of the medical world-BMJ, is the connection between political powerlessness, absence of representation and poor lifelong health. The medical community worldwide has expressed support for the Voice. Indeed, BMJ states: ‘Evidence shows that First nations people involved in managing and caring for their land have less disease … They also have better self-esteem, identity and connection to culture than those not involved in those activities.’ I am sure that others will be more qualified to express opinions in the political arena than myself, but in the area of health, my imperatives are clear. Our First Nations community deserves no less than full self-determination, no less than to experience the same health outcomes and life expectancy as their non-Indigenous counterparts, and no less than adequate representation in all physical and cultural arenas. No person of any moral worth could argue otherwise.
LINDA ATKINS

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While I would prefer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders be allowed to make self-determined decisions without the interference of non-Indigenous Australians, since we are called upon, as citizens, to vote in a referendum on Constitutional change, I choose to support First Nations people - past and present – in their call for a Voice in parliament, as well as those calling for a Treaty and recognition of Sovereignty.
MEERA ATKINSON

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The upcoming referendum seems pretty simple to me. Do we want Indigenous Australians to be recognised in the constitution? And do we want to accept their request to be consulted about things that affect them? I’m voting YES.

JIMMY BARNES

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A Voice? YES

The Voice of Australia’s First Nations people? YES

To be heard in our Parliament? YES

And recognised in our Constitution? Yes

PLEASE YES

SUSANNAH BEGBIE

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We have the chance to either head towards decency or shame, and the knowledge that we will live with that, with pride or remorse.

BRONWYN BLAKE

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Voting YES is a tiny step towards granting Indigenous Australians a say in and over their lives, a small thing to ask when for two centuries we have dispossessed the traditional owners of their land, and waged war against their culture, their language, their communities and their families. There are many loud voices who have huge and undue influence, voices who lobby and bully and deafen. They are heard in our media, in boardrooms, in courts, in places of worship - white, privileged and entitled, they dominate the conversation. If we are to come together as a nation, we need truth, voice and treaty, voting YES to enshrine a First Nations Voice in the Constitution is the very least we can do.

TRISH BOLTON

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I support the Voice because I truly believe that decolonisation is a path that Australia should embrace. As a Kurd who has experienced genocide, displacement and discrimination, I deeply connect with what Aboriginal people have endured. The unwavering resilience of indigenous communities has always been a source of inspiration to me. I draw upon their knowledge of resistance to advocate for refugees who have suffered in this nation. The achievements of Aboriginal communities empower me in my efforts.

BEHROUZ BOOCHANI

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I support the Voice as it represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a better say. This modest, yet important step will help address the terrible disadvantage faced by so many.

MARK BRANDI

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I will be voting YES for a constitutionally enshrined Voice because it is the first, very modest, step in acknowledging the historic and ongoing injustice dealt to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this country. Constitutional recognition is long overdue. The Uluru Statement From the Heart, designed by a representative First Nations body, invites the Australian people to recognise and respect their history, ongoing sovereignty and need to be heard. The Voice is about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people being given the chance to speak to Parliament and the executive about matters of policy that affect them. It is that simple.
BERNADETTE BRENNAN

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I’m voting YES on October 14 because Indigenous constitutional recognition is long overdue and Indigenous Australian deserve a Voice on matters that affect them specifically - a constitutionally enshrined Voice that cannot be taken away on the whim of any government on any given day. The Voice is a concept that has been developed and asked for by First Nations Australians. Polling consistently shows that the majority of Indigenous Australians support the Voice and will be voting YES. Every conversation about the Voice helps, so speak to your family, your friends, your colleagues and your neighbours.

VICTORIA BROOKMAN

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I’ll be voting yes because ‘The Uluru Statement from the Heart’ is a coherent, cohesive, and intelligent document. It is generous. It makes sense to me. The Statement asks for three things. The referendum only deals with one: ‘constitutional reforms to empower [Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander] people and take a rightful place in our own country’ [the emphasis is in the original]. The signatories simply ‘seek to be heard’. The referendum wording – the wording we vote on – specifically states that the parliament retains its power over a Voice. A Voice will only have the power to make ‘representations’ to government. It won’t be making or changing laws. That’s still the job of our elected representatives. And a Voice will only have a chance to influence issues affecting Aboriginal and TI peoples. Not other members of the Australian community. I can’t see how the proposed change to the constitution takes anything away from me. It only gives.

FRAN BRYSON

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There will be much to celebrate if the YES vote is carried. Over these past weeks, I have wondered what would be celebrated if the No vote was to prevail. Maintaining a status quo that clearly isn’t working is not worthy of a party, nor should streamers be hurt for a campaign that denies the existence of inter-generational trauma caused by Colonialism and I won’t be blowing up balloons to revel in a victory won through disinformation and deceit.

DAMIAN CALLINAN

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Some of my first memories were walking down to find my mum in the vegetable garden and asking to hear stories of her life, our family, my history. These stories shaped me and grew with me. And now, I realise how much I love to share stories. I love writing about relationships, silence, trauma, birth, about consent, and all the other moments I observe and experience. I do this on Awabakal land, on land that was never ceded and that holds over 60,000 years of a story telling culture. I am voting YES in the upcoming referendum because I want the voices from the cultures and people who have cared and loved this land for thousands of years to never be forgotten or silenced.

OCEANE CAMPBELL

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The weak and guilty might block their ears but a democratic people knows that listening makes us stronger.

PETER CAREY

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I support the Voice because Indigenous disadvantage - in education, life expectancy, infant mortality, incarceration rates, poverty, violence and so much remains glaring. Time to listen to the Voice of First Nations people about what will help make a real difference. Look at how women’s lives and opportunities improved when, through feminism, we began to listen to them. Listening to people, really listening, means you take them seriously and that is what the Voice is all about. Time for us to shut up and listen, And the first step towards doing that is to vote YES. JANE CARO

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The reason to vote YES this October is simple: it’s time. Scratch that, it’s past time. Well past it. Australians are being given a choice: to create a fairer nation, one where this country’s First Peoples have a greater say on the matters that affect them, or to stick to a harmful status quo that has already lasted too long. I know which way I’ll be voting.

REECE CARTER

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The Voice simply provides overdue constitutional recognition of First Australians and a much needed advisory body to Parliament protected from the whims of political interference. I’s an important first step in a long-term, multi-faceted and collaborative process of improving the lives of Indigenous Australians and rectifying the damage of the past. DANIELLE CLODE

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The Voice referendum is an opportunity for the people of this nation to make a strong statement in support of Indigenous control of Indigenous affairs. The Voice is not divide, it recognises the division that already exists and starts a dialogue so the people and this country and begin to heal.

CLARE G COLEMAN

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I’ll vote YES for all of us. But especially for the women who fought with righteous knowledge and culture in all their different ways: Pearl Gibbs, Faith Bandler, Mum Shirl. For Barbara Cummings, Marcia Langton, Megan Davis, Pat Anderson and Linda Burney. For the little ones and the older ones at Cootamundra ‘home’ and the Retta Dixon kids, all the stolen children and their families, and with shame, the women my ancestors virtually enslaved. Because a Voice is fair, and common sense, and a sensible acknowledgement that’s way overdue. And with hope, for all the kids of the future to be able to look each other in the eye and go forward together, I’ll vote YES.

KAZ COOKE

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I was present on the day the deeds for Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park were handed back to the Anangu people in 1985. The handback of this sacred land felt momentous, a symbol of recognition and respect for First Nations people worldwide. About time, I thought. Yet here we are. It’s 2023 and we’re dithering about a long overdue change to the constitution to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples a say in policies that affect them. It’s time, Australia. Let their voices be heard. DIANE CONNELL

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Australia has a history of people who loved and respected their country for over 60,000 years, but were betrayed by not having a voice in the new world. A First Nation’s Voice enshrined in the constitution is a vital step toward righting that wrong and will benefit us all profoundly.

MICK CUMMINS

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I support the Voice because, despite all the nuances and legitimate concerns that it doesn't go nearly far enough in terms of meaningful progress, the No side, should it win, is extremely unlikely to acknowledge variation in people’s motives. Instead, a No vote will be framed as ‘the country has spoken;’ and any, more significant, reform and recognition for Indigenous Australians will be kicked into the long grass. I’d draw an analogy with the Marriage law Postal Survey in 2017. After years of heated and often hurtful ‘debate’ the vote (rightly or wrongly) came down to ‘progress and social acceptance’ versus an unfair ‘status quo’ and, thankfully, the majority of people voted for progress. If you believe in human rights, the question then becomes one of ‘do you believe we’re all human?’ If the answer to that is yes, and there is a strong and obvious case for any cohort to have their rights better recognised, it becomes unconscionable, in my view, to stand in the way.

PAUL DALGARNO

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It’s high time we got real in this country and started to actually be here. Constitutional recognition is an indispensable symbolic step towards that. And hopefully there’ll be more. But the main reason I’ll be voting YES is because Aboriginal people I listen to say it well help ameliorate the difficulties and improve the circumstances so many in their communities face every single day. I don’t understand why we wouldn’t have the wisdom and good grace to listen to their expertise on the issues that concern them. Saying YES will, most importantly, help the suffering, and in the long run will also help us all.

GREGORY DAY

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The characteristics of any open democracy - like the one we are privileged to live in - are that we will never have 100% agreement on anything. We’re told that at least 80% of Australian First Nations people support the proposition, advanced in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, that there be an Indigenous Voice that speaks to the highest levels of government re policy setting in their area of concern and need. This proposed Voice has no decision-making capacity and force at law, but it opens the way for a considered and continuing public discussion between policy makes, First Nation people and all other Australians. Some find it objectionable that an indigenous Voice would be enshrined in the Federal Constitution, but I share the concern that a legislated Voice could simply be dismantled at whim, as we’ve seen so often in our National and State Parliaments. Surely if we want to see tax money spent to good effect when it comes to policy settings that involve substantial expenditure, it makes eminent sense to begin the discussion with ‘bottom-up’ insights from the targeted community. The Voice offers a mechanism for doing that in the indigenous context and, in addition, for crafting sensible policies for other Australians, who are too often unheard and face similar problems. Part of the current distrust of our democratic institutions stems from the perception that too many policies are skewed ‘behind the scenes’, private voices that promote the interest of the rich and powerful. These are the voices we should fear, not a First Nations Voice that has no legislative power and speaks in public.

PETER DOHERTY AC Novel Laureate

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I am voting YES because it has been too long since my Pibleman Noongar speaking Grandfather lost his best friends Nookum and Yabi because of introduced diseases and because all my life Noongars from various clans have been my friends and cousins. Now that I live in Kincinnup Kinjarling Albany, Menang Noongar Boodja and most of my close friends are Menang, we talk every day of the Voice and the Voice given to First Nations People in so many other democracies. We know even a flawed version of this Voice will give us renewed confidence and fill our spirits. Please join us.

JON DOUST

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Is there any sensible, logical or conceivable reason not to have a Voice to Parliament - a panel of First Nations people to ADVISE on matters relating specifically to them? If there is, I for one don’t know what it could be.

VIRGINIA DUIGAN

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As a migrant to this country, I wholeheartedly support the Voice to Parliament. This may be the best chance of closing the gap and giving Indigenous Australians a chance to control their own destiny.

IRINA DUNN

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How different would the past have been – and the present be – if Indigenous Australians had always been duly acknowledged and listened to? No Terra Nullius, no stolen land, no Stolen Generations, no gap to close. We can’t choose a different past, but we can choose a different future. Acknowledgement and listening are part of that. That’s all this referendum asks: recognition as First Peoples in the founding document of the nation through a Voice to parliament and to the executive. It’s simple, it should have been there since the start and it can only be a force for good.

NICK EARLS

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I can think of no other change to our laws that carries as much powerful symbolism while having the potential to change people's lives for the better. First Australians have spoken loud and clear, and so eloquently, through the Uluru Statement from the Heart - it takes a heartless nation to deny the Voice.

ABBAS EL-ZEIN

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Australia is out of step with other advanced nations in recognising and welcoming the voice of First Nations peoples in our democratic system of governance. We are capable of achieving this state of grace.
SUZANNE FALKINER

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Growing up. I couldn’t help but be aware of the division in this country between indigenous and non indigenous people. And throughout my adulthood, news reports have continued to toll the crushing consequences of this terrible ‘gap’ between us. I didn’t know what to do about it, this chasm that no amount of well-intentioned government policies and money ever seemed to fill. But in 2017, when the Uluru Statement from the Heart was born, I was filled with real hope for reconciliation. The Uluru Statement is a towering piece of art, a first step top building unity in this nation, and an offer to us all to share First Nations’ sacred link of land and ancestors, those authors of this country’s first stories. Oh, the generosity of this offer - to share family! - in the face of attempted genocide, is breath-taking. I hope with all my heart that Australia says YES to the Voice of the oldest people in the world, and the stories they will have to tell - stories which we will share as we walk together across the divide and into a new but ancient land.

ANNA FEINBERG

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MARTIN FLANAGAN (Prospect Magazine UK)

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The Voice to parliament is the question mark that now appears over our country and, by implication, our literature. For us to be secure, for us to prosper, the answer lies not in relentless exploitation, nor more inequality, nor yet in reckless acts of external aggression to please larger countries. The answer lies in us and our land, and the way we answer this great question later this year. I hope, I pray, that our reply will be yes. (The Monthly)

RICHARD FLANAGAN

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I support the Voice because it will lead to a fairer and better Australia. Without a Makarata Commission (which the Uluru Statement from the Heart calls for), we can never heal the wounds of the past. And a yes vote would make that far easier to achieve.

TIM FLANNERY

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We are being asked to listen. To amend the constitution so that the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people cannot be sidelined or silenced by the politics of the day. So we can all learn, offer support, work together, and help the nation move forward. I hope we can hear and heed the call.

SARA FOSTER

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The Indigenous peoples of this country were here first. They are the unique first dwellers in this country, the first owners of this country. They have never been listened to. When White people arrived, we took their land without their permission, massacred them, snatched away their children, prevented them from voting, wrecked their way of living (in tune with their land and the rest of the universe), provided inappropriate top-down White-person decisions about what was best for them, and created untold misery for too many, generation after generation. Their voices have been drowned out, their feelings ignored, their knowledge dismissed. My shame in the face of these facts make me want to vote YES for the Voice. Please vote YES with me. And let’s start listening. What could be wrong with that?

MEM FOX

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To listen to one another is such a fundamental human courtesy. Writers know that. Writers depend upon readers to honour their words and work with concentrated listening. We should do no less for Australia’s First Peoples. We must listen to them, learn from them, and vote to enshrine their Voice in our Constitution.

MORAG FRASER

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There’s diverse opinion in the Indigenous community about many things. That makes sense, it’s a diverse community. But a huge percentage of Indigenous people support the Voice and seeing this mis-represented by racists as part of the No Campaign makes me angry and sick. I will be voting YES in the referendum not because it is the perfect, ultimate end goal, but because Indigenous peoples – who have a rich, ancient history worthy of respect and celebration – today live with horrendous and unfair consequences of white settlement and ongoing failed government policies, and they are the ones we should be listening to when it comes to how to do better. Because they deserve much, much better.
MICHELLE FREEMAN

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A First Nations voice to parliament and recognition of First Nations people in Australia’s constitution are significant steps towards addressing the countless wrongs suffered by First Nations people under colonialism. It’s only fair that our government acknowledges who was here first, and gives First Nations people a say when it comes to decisions that will affect them.

PEGGY FREW

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The laws of Australia have not worked well for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Voice to Parliament is a group of people - not politicians - who will offer advice, so as to make better laws. I look forward to listening to the Voice , and closing the gap. That’s why I’ll be voting YES.

ANNA FUNDER

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I’m voting YES because it’s the only decent thing to do. What used to be ‘the whispering in our hearts’ is now a roar that we can no longer pretend not to hear.
HELEN GARNER

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The proposal for an Indigenous Voice advising our parliament is about the grace of listening. It just makes sense to me. I’m so sick of the whitefella attitude of this is what has to be done, this is how to fix the situation. By not listening, over generations, we’re implying that the Indigenous voice has nothing worth saying or adding to the situation - and how shameful is that … Listening is not about not shutting ourselves off, but opening our hearts. (The Australian)

NIKKI GEMMELL

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The Voice to Parliament is long overdue. The environmental degradation we have witnessed since European colonisation reflects a shameful desecration of Country that has to stop. We must listen to First Nations people and learn how to better care for Country. It is an essential part of addressing the climate and ecological crises we now face. It’s time to right the wrongs of the past and heal together as a nation.

JOELLE GERGIS

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A voice is a voice, as Gertrude Stein might have said. A voice provides the opportunity to speak, to explain, to inform, to advise - and to be heard.

ANDREA GOLDSMITH

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I support the Voice not only because it would ensure greater attention to First Nations voices, but also because of things that whit Australians can learn from listening to them. Indigenous writers like Alexis Wright or Tony Birch, and artists like Ian Abdulla or Treahna Hamm, have shown me new ways of seeing and thinking and feeling that enhance my understanding of this country.

KERRYN GOLDSWORTHY

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We are standing on the lands of the oldest continuing culture on earth. Indigenous Australians have been here for more than 60,000 years. The Voice is a modest proposal to give our First Nations people a say in issues that affect them. It costs us nothing at all to vote ‘Yes’ - to show this gratitude and respect to the peoples who are the custodians of these lands, winds and waters. It’s the ONLY correct and fair choice.
GINGER GORMAN

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The wrongs of the past can't be undone. But the referendum gives us all a chance to come together and create a space where voices can speak and be heard, and challenges worked through together.
KATE GRENVILLE

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The invitation to vote YES in the October 14 referendum represents an opportunity to change the story of the place that’s now called Australia. To accept the Uluru Statement‘s generous invitation and commit to a journey towards voice, treaty and truth and beyond, through issues including dispossession, reckoning and just reform. To say, this nation commits to hearing and honouring its First Nations’ voices, and to making space for the speak-listen exchange of hard conversations; to realising an Australia that operates - genuinely and fairly - as one of the world’s youngest nation-states in the presence of the world’s oldest continuing culture and civilisation and the world’s oldest democracy. To say - after the 253 years of disruption, destruction, assumption, and often wilful ignorance since the Endeavour reached Kamay - that, yes, we want to change Australia’s story through this change to our Constitution - and that, yes, changing this story commits us to urgent, deeper structural change. It’s a start.

ASHLEY HAY

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As a sci-fi writer, I like to picture a parallel version of 1770. In this imagined universe, the British Parliament had the power to claim Australia as their own, but there was a catch; their constitution said they had to listen to Indigenous Australian first. After that, they could do whatever they wanted. Would the massacres have happened anyway? Or how about this: Imagine, in 1901 our new constitution included an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Would generations of children have been stolen? What if a Voice had been added to the 1967 amendments? What would Australia look like now? Would Indigenous Australians be 15 times more likely to go to prison? Or would they die ten years earlier? I don’t know the answers to any of these questions, but I know this referendum is an opportunity to prevent the next big injustice. A YES vote won’t take away the power of future governments, but it will force them to listen before they act.

JACK HEATH

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To me this is a very clear cut, simple conversation, because it is about the story of this nation. Our Nation.About the narrative that currently does not recognise us, unlike every other Commonwealth nation that recognises first peoples in their constitution. I’ll be voting YES on October 14 because:

I want to live in a country that recognises First Nations people and tries to reckon with its Blak history.

The Voice will allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say on the issues and policies that affect us.

When local First Nations communities are listened to better policy decisions can be made.

This is a once in a generation opportunity to come together and take meaningful steps on the path to achieve First Nations justice.

ANITA HEISS

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YES, for us all.

STEVEN HERRICK

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The Indigenous Voice to Parliament would help make the Australian Constitution a more complete document, with a greater complement of justice for First Nations people. I see a YES vote in the upcoming referendum as an initiative that would enhance the spiritual life of all Australians.

ROBERT HILLMAN

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I'm voting YES because it's time to move ahead with anything that will improve respect and agency for our First Peoples. I respect the preference of the majority of First Peoples here, and that the establishment of the Voice is what they want. Australia needs truth, voice and treaty, and this vote is important in finding a better way.
KATE HOLDEN

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I am voting YES in the referendum because modern democratic Australia’s founding document, the Constitution, must be based on truth. That commitment demands the recognition of our land’s original inhabitants. If the no vote wins, we will assent to living with a lie at the very heart of our democracy.

LUCINDA HOLDFORTH

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Dr James Boyce has written that Australians are remarkably adept at normalising our history - while it might be regrettable it was just what happened in those days. It’s time to stop normalising our past, face the truth and start listening. The descendant of those we have murdered and silenced with our political and legal connivances are now asking us to take responsibility for our dark past. They are asking non-First Nations Australians to understand why they are demanding change.They want to be legally and symbolically recognised in our founding document for who they are: the First Peoples of the country. They also want a voice in shaping their future, and - in so doing - seek empowerment to determine their own destiny. That’s why I’m voting YES at the up and coming referendum.

CRAIG HORNE

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I’m voting YES because our First Nations people should be able to have a say on the policies that impact them.

MEGAN JACOBSON

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As a teacher of 30 years, if it’s not on the syllabus, it doesn't get taught. Yes, an oversimplification but true. I believe indigenous voices as part of the constitution will be a start to positive change. I wholly support that the indigenous would rather be self-determined and autonomous - this the first step to changing the miserable status quo. EILA JAMESON-AVEY

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The Voice is a step in the right direction. The wellbeing of First Nations people should not depend on the whim of politicians - it should be enshrined in the constitution.

CATHERINE JINKS

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Aboriginal land, always was, always will be. I am voting YES because it will acknowledge the rightful place of the indigenous people in the Constitution and allow them their rightful voice. Every Australian should support this.

SUSAN JOHNSON

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It’s time we all listened to the First Peoples of this country.

TONI JORDAN

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How to turn a fence into a gate (A poem)

30% of voters say they’re still on the fence. Snagged there, caught on barbs, unsure.

The fence of colonial history that makes “territory” from open land Makes the division; “us” and “them”, stock in and vermin out.

The barbed wire fence, patented in 1876 known by North American settlers as ‘the invention that tamed the West” and by First Nations Americans as “The Devil’s Rope.”

Possession.  Separation.  Demarcation. Enforced captivity. Ownership. Gulags.  Incarceration. Detention.   The fence stands as a symbol of them all.

And this is going to come down to the wire. On this side, of people over the age of 65, 65% saying no. On this side - already walking, already with eyes on another horizon - of people aged between 18 and 34, 62% in favour, saying yes.

And the 30% who will have to climb down, on one side or the other, who are stuck and entangled in the wire that’s what’s teetering in the balance, snagged.

But to traverse ground, to not get stuck at the barrier, think back to the time a barbed wire fence was turned, for you, into a gate.

A tunnel. A portal.  A bridge.

First, you need to make sure the fence is not electrified. You need to turn off that current and take a breath.  Then all you really need is a hand and a boot. 

Ideally, it’s a boot you’ve been able to visualise when somebody has said ‘Imagine if the boot was on the other foot.” 

Walk a mile or two in this boot.  And the hand. 

Ideally It’s just the hand you find yourself extending instinctively when it’s clear somebody needs a hand up.

Then with your boot, step on the second strand of wire and press it to the ground.  With your hand, lift the third strand of barbed wire  to make a space, so somebody else can climb through without snagging themselves.

You know how it goes.  You do it for them, and then without a word they stand up on the other side and do the same thing for you. 

Then you just….resume your conversation, and your journey.

Don’t worry, the fence will allow this stretch, because this fence which costs us so much and divides us is sagging now.  It’s buckling and rusting away.

Don’t worry.  This is not trespass.  We have been invited.  In spite of everything, a hand is reaching for ours, encouraging us through the fence.

So start to walk in the other paddock, into the landscape beyond it, into the land that was never ours but which we took and sold off and used and constructed our aggrieved sense of ownership about all the same, to walk into land trying to heal itself, out there beyond the old boundaries,  remember that making a way through is like casting a vote. 

You put your foot down, and your hand up. 

 CATE KENNEDY

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TOM KENEALLY raps on the Voice!

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A First Nations voice to parliament will not only allow First Nations people an enshrined right to speak when, for so long. there has been active, deliberate silencing. Saying YES to the Voice will also allow for listening, for dialogue, for learning. I want to listen. I want to learn. This referendum is an opportunity for us to change the narrative of this country, to work towards its decolonisation, and determine a future together founded on truth and recognition and respect.

HANNAH KENT

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This will be our only chance to change the constitution of Australia to acknowledge the First Peoples of Australia and we absolutely have to acknowledge that this was and is Aboriginal land. Nothing can change and we can’t move forward as a nation before we acknowledge the past. We have asked First Nations people what they want in terms of this acknowledgement and an exhaustive process over many years talking with hundreds of different Aboriginal groups has come up with this elegant document – the Uluru Statement From the Heart. Voting yes is a first step. It is an acknowledgement that First Nations people have asked for recognition and active conversations following that recognition. It is not the final solution to all our problems but it is a gentle and respectful beginning. I am voting yes because I want to listen to First Nations voices. I want to hear and respect those voices. I am voting yes out of respect and because nothing changes if we do nothing – which is the only alternative to YES.
KRIS KNEEN

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An indigenous Voice to Parliament is just one step ahead. If this step is missed, so are all of those that would follow.

MALCOLM KNOX

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Six yers ago, First Nations Australians laid out a path towards a better, fairer society in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Voice. Treaty. Truth. With the impending referendum, it is now incumbent on all Australians to walk that path. The first step is YES.

WILL KOSTAKIS

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Today’s debate about the upcoming referendum, much of it bereft of humanity and nuance, is exactly why a First Nations Voice needs to be enshrined in the Constitution. Again, Aboriginal people are being used as a political football for other peoples’ careers, point-scoring, brand-making and electorate rallying. Vote YES for a Voice of substance instead of all this BS.

ANNA KRIEN

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I am voting YES because, to me, it is the only conceivable answer. Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are offering us the opportunity to listen, to learn, to hope. I am unsure why we have to vote on this at all.

MARTINE KROPKOWSKI

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I can think of nothing more positively impactful, to humanity and the international community, for existing generations and those in our future, than to carry out the humble act of casting a YES vote. Individual and collective doubt, opposition and resistance can be assuaged by becoming informed, and practically considering the more than 60,000 year connection Australia’s First Nations people have with this land, as well as recognising the dire need to redress the colonialist-caused generation suffering that continues. By enshrining in the constitution consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders on issues directly affecting their own peoples, we as Australians will be stepping towards a brighter future for all.

MIMI KWA

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Supporting the Voice means that the First Nations people of this land can advise the government of the affairs that concern them; a vital and necessary part of a thriving and fair democracy in this country, and to my mind, long overdue.

SOPHIE LAGUNA

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For too long conversations have been held about us and not with us. We are asking merely for an advisory body to ameliorate the power of the parliament to make laws that could cause us harm.

MARCIA LANGTON

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Indigenous Australians must have a constitutionally protected Voice, because connecting them directly to Parliament is the only way to forge a future of equity and fairness. A successful YES vote will also strike a blow against misinformation and deception, without which progress in this country, on any issue, will be set back a generation or more. The Voice will be a small step in the right direction for Indigenous Australians A No vote will be a disaster for all Australians.

JUSTINE LARBALESTIER & SCOTT WESTERFELD

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Australia is the only nation with a comparable colonial history that doesn’t recognise First Nations people in its Constitution. The Voice to Parliament is such a humble - yet such an important - request. I want all non-Indigenous Australians to be able to look at the overwhelming majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people asking for the Voice, in the eye, and say YES.

BENJAMIN LAW

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I’m voting YES as it’s time we did better. YES to listening. YES to recognition and acknowledgement. YES to walking together towards a mature, united nation. YES to the Voice to Parliament.

SUE LAWSON

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This referendum will determine how First Nations peoples and settler Australian go forward as a Nation. Please vote YES.

JEANINE LEANE

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I’m voting YES because it’s time for Indigenous people in Australia to have a say in the decisions that affect them - a say that is not subject to political vagaries, point-scoring and wedge politics. The Uluru Statement from the Heart calls for moderate reform: ‘We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.’ I am voting YES to the optimism and generosity that the Uluru Statement shows, and YES to the better future for which it provides a framework.

ROWENA LENNOX

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At the heart of the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a simple and courteous request that invites non Indigenous Australians to walk with our First Nations Peoples to help secure a better future for them. How on earth could we say no to this, and why on earth? Only because - once again - we have succumbed to fear, rather than seen this for what it is: a profound opportunity for us as a nation to try and make amends for historic and terrible wrongdoings. Beside which, what kind of people would say no to an invitation as gentle and lovely as this?

DAVID LESER

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Enshrining recognition of our First Nations peoples in the constitution, through the enactment of a Voice to Parliament, benefits all Australians: it gives our First Peoples a seat at the table in determining their own affairs; it is a practical step towards correcting massive historical injustices and ongoing deficits; it is a manifestation of the spirit of reconciliation. The Voice takes nothing away from non-indigenous Australians - it simply asks us to listen, and gain the perspectives of the oldest, continuous living culture on Earth.

REBECCA LIM

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Our Constitution defines how laws are made and power is distributed. It seems natural and vital then that it recognises the First Peoples of Australia by establishing a Voice. A vote of YES is a small step towards fairness.

ROBERT LUKINS

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The outreached hand is offered in friendship. How could we brush it away? There is nothing to lose in saying YES to the Voice, and a misery of loss in saying no.

CHRIS MASTERS

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I am voting YES because it is the fair and decent thing to do. It is one way I can pay my respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart after lengthy and exhaustive community discussions. Polling of Indigenous people have been consistently over 80% in their support of a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament. I want to support that endeavour and have this mater done. It costs me nothing to vote YES and in fact, allows me to feel generous, and proud that I can acknowledge positively the invitation to talk together for a positive outcome. This referendum has been a long time coming. It offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to get things right and once we are there opportunities will open and our First Nations people will finally feel they belong. This is a moment of becoming whole and respected for their existence and survival despite their daily challenges. As a feminist campaigning grandmother of 82 I understand how lonely the pursuit of a personal/political voice can be and the result is neither perfect nor as evenly distributed as we might wish. But women’s voices are heard, and we have enshrined rights and the confidence to challenge those who try to remove them. Let’s just vote YES and be done with it.

WENDY MCCARTHY AO

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It’s boggling that we even need to hold this referendum. An achingly overdue parliamentary Voice for our First People is not only a given - it’s vital. It’s central to the wellbeing of Indigenous people, and to our country as a whole. It’s a YES from me and my family.

TANIA MCCARTNEY

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I’m voting YES to the Voice because constitutional recognition of Australia’s Indigenous people is 235 years overdue. An Indigenous Voice to Parliament send a powerful message that our sovereign people must be listened to, and brought into the centre of policy and legal decisions directly impacting them. I understand the scepticism of some Indigenous people,. given the relentless injustices of the past centuries and the many flaws in our governance. But I agree with the vast majority who believe positive systemic change can come from a Voice to Parliament. It is one small step forward. If it isn’t taken, we could see many massive leaps backwards. We all stand to gain from this.

Voice., Treaty, Truth.

FIONA KELLY MCGREGOR

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I am stunned by the generosity of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which invites everyone on this continent to walk together with First Nations people. That this statement has opened the chance to say YES to a Voice comes from tremendous hard work, courage, knowledge and kindness. I feel so lucky to be offered the chance to part of a vision of the future of tis country that begins with love. It is one step. YES! LAURA JEAN MCKAY

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Before I was a writer I worked for the Aboriginal Legal Service as a lawyer. I thought I understood some of the issues, but this experience opened my eyes to the overwhelming level of distress and harm that the rest of the country inflict due to sheer ignorance of an Aboriginal lived experience. While an awareness has been built within a more contemporary community, there remains massive systemic discrimination and cruelty experienced, and we finally have an opportunity to change this. The lived experience of Aboriginal people and their unique skills, leadership and knowledge must be heard for Australia to maintain its position as an international state that values human rights. I now work as an international writer, and I am constantly asked about our country’s first peoples and nations. I would feel ashamed of this country if we failed to agree on this very small gesture of listening to Aboriginal people on issues that specifically affect them. Voting YES is about believing in a future where Australia can be the best it can be. It is about truly living the ‘fair go’. Do not listen to the naysayers, there is nothing risked and only gains in a YES vote.
SUZIE MILLER

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I support the Voice to Parliament because the failure to honour and cherish 60,000 plus years of Indigenous history is a collective, continuing national shame. I hope the Voice might serve as a beginning step to healing, to improved opportunities for First Nations people, and to a possible united future in which we celebrate the incredible culture we share on these lands.
RACHAEL MOGAN MCINTOSH

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As a writer I respect and honour the tradition of storyteller. Our histories are never really forgotten. Our future stories will be told through new technology but still written in books and remembered in the old ways around the campfires of times to come. As a grandmother I say, let us look back on this moment in time as a great gift … to know that we can change history for the better for all of us with just one word - YES.

It is as simple as giving First Nations people the right to be included, to give opinion and advice, on laws which involve them. It will be up to the government to listen to their voices and then decide what works best. The Voice MUST be enshrined in the Constitution in order for everyone to have their say. Believe me, we will all be happier, safer and enriched when we say YES.

DI MORRISSEY

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Australia is home to the oldest living cultures on Earth. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples flourished sustainably on this continent for thousands of generations, including caring for and nourishing the land through cultural burning practices. No one understands this land better than First Nations or are better places to care for it. Through my years as a fire and emergency service leader, I came to recognise that Indigenous knowledge is fundamental to effective management of Country and to reducing disaster risks. First Nations peoples know the best way to deliver genuine and practical outcomes for their communities, which are often the most vulnerable to heatwave, drought, fire, flood, cyclone, and other natural disasters. By listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples we can better protect all Australians. Please embrace the Australian tradition of giving everyone a fair go, and reject the spurious, politically motivated arguments against this modest request for Indigenous peoples to have a say in their own destiny. Please write YES on your ballot paper.

GREG MULLINS

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I am voting YES because I am listening to the majority of First Nations people, who support the Voice. I hope that it will be a constructive step in the process of recognition and restitution, which is long overdue. It is a chance to acknowledge and celebrate Indigenous people’s rich history and their profound cultural connection to the land. It is a chance to begin addressing the massive systemic discrimination and cruelty experienced by many Indigenous people. It is a chance to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices guide the decisions affecting their communities, fostering more informed policies, and allowing for real improvements in areas like jobs, health, education and justice.

MIRANDA NATION

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The voices of our First Nations people have been dismissed and ignored for too long. It’s time for the rest of Australia to vote YES and to start truly listening.

IMBI NEEME

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“it’s time”, time to say YES! Say YES to the Voice and be proud of your decision, it will support an long overdue movement to set a world gold standard in recognition of the rights of the First Australians to have advisory representation to Federal Parliament.

If not now, when? Say YES.

AUNTY BARBARA NICHOLSON

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Our country’s first people looked after the land for thousands of years. Then came colonisation. Today, here and around the world, we see growing devastation of flora, fauna, the environment and continuing injustices. Now, more than ever, the time has come to start listening to their knowledgeable voice. Vote YES.

DENNIS OGDEN

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I’m supporting the YES vote primarily because that is what the majority of Indigenous Australians want. We have had representative Indigenous bodies who speak to parliament before, so having it recognised in the constitution that there will always be a body representing Indigenous communities who can speak to parliament, and this group can’t be dismantled by future governments, does not feel like a radical move but, rather, a logical one. I also feel like it is important for our national identity and our cultural psyche. When constitutional changes like these are made - like in 1946, when the Commonwealth was granted greater power to provide welfare, or in 1967, when Indigenous Australians were included in the population count - few people are directly affected, but all Australians are enriched by the change to the nation.

SONIA ORCHARD

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There is only YES for me. Yes! Finally, a small step in the right direction - a small step towards equality in this country. The Voice is about getting better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their children, and their communities. It is well overdue. The Voice gives me hope.
FAVEL PARRETT

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We’re voting YES for Australia. We want to recognise the Invasion and forge a way beyond it. For all Australians. We are determined to recognise First Australians in the constitution so that we can create a Voice, a Treaty and Truth. We will not be diverted from this path by bullies who only think about Aboriginal people when they sense a chance to punish us for being here first.

BRUCE PASCOE

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As a writer I feel compelled to support The Voice. Words matter. Equality matters. Indigenous Australians have lived on this land for 65,000 years. The Voice is their expression of inclusion. As an Australian, I believe it is my duty and honour to vote Yes.
CAROLINE PETIT

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I'm voting YES to the Voice because representation matters, self-determination matters, and being heard by the government and the broader public matters. This is a unique opportunity to do something different in Australia after more than two hundred years of injustice for First Nations peoples. I'm excited to see how this changes society for the better, for all.

BASTIAN FOX PHELAN

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I support indigenous people’s call for recognition and consultation. I support a fairer future based on the values of justice, inclusion, and self-determination. I support the Voice as it enshrines these values for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities. I support making space for truth telling and listening. And I support all of this because I believe we urgently need to do anything we can to eradicate ongoing horrors and systemic injustices of colonial violence. I am voting YES for a more human and dignified future for all.

GEORGIA PHILLIPS

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Writers know better than anyone the importance of having a voice, of being able to contribute to the cultural conversation. The Voice is a way to begin giving back that which has been taken away from First Nations people. I you care about being fair, vote YEAH!

SIAN PRIOR

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I will be voting an emphatic YES. My vote is a thank you to the First Peoples of all the Countries I’ve been privileged to live on. And my vote is an apology for the generations of colonialism that have neglected and denied the truth of our history. The Voice is the beginning of our path to truth-telling and reconciliation.
DONNA RAWLINS

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I support the YES campaign all the way. We need concrete action to show the nation’s commitment to proper recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and enshrining a process of formal consultation on matters that directly affect their communities is certainly a good start. It’s about time Australia took real action toward reconciliation, and this is the way forward.
NICOLA REDHOUSE

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The Uluru Statement from the Heart is the most beautiful piece of writing in contemporary Australian public discourse. It makes two very simple, patriotic requests, but could have asked for much more given the plight of First Nations people in this country since my ancestors arrived in shackles. It is neither demanding nor aggressive. It is a calm and conciliatory offer of peace and progress. I am voting for constitutional recognition and a voice to parliament for my children and theirs. My vote is a well overdue expression of respect to my Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander friends and one I hope will advance Australia.
JESSICA RUDD

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In order to ensure the self determination and human rights of the First Peoples of our country, to mature as a nation, and to face up to past injustices, it is vital that we establish the Voice to Parliament.

KATE RYAN

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Voting YES to the Voice won’t redress the horrific injustices of the past, but it will help to forge a more equitable path going forward. It’s literally the least we can do.

KERRI SACKVILLE

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There are conservative voices who - as if they are being left out - argue the constitution should not be changed to ‘favour ‘ any one group because it belongs to all of us. Well, not really. When the Australian constitution came into effect in 1901 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were not even counted as citizens, and did not gain voting rights until - by referendum - decades later. That is a constitutional history of not belonging. That is being left out. We have to be more mature as a nation than this, and shed the fiction that Indigenous representation directly to Parliament is some kind if cheating. It’s quite the reverse. It’s a belated moral and political imperative before all of us: for a constitution to be fully inclusive of all Australians, not just to correct the historical neglect but to allow for an urgently needed Indigenous representations to Parliament and for Parliament to then have the powers to implement these, as best laws and principles relating to Indigenous issues. To listen and then act. It’s hardly going to right the massacres, the cruelty of camp incarcerations for the kids of the Stolen Generation, the endless discriminations of every long day. But with these appalling shadows behind it, the constitution must be changed., A YES vote wishes for a shared and better future. A No vote is a denial of the past and a hardening.

PHILIP SALOM

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I will be voting YES in the referendum, for a constitutionally enshrined Voice for our First Peoples. We can't undo the wrongs of the past, but we can move forward by supporting the expressed rights and wishes of First Nation peoples to have a voice in matters that affect them.
CLAIRE SAXBY

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Meaningful recognition of the First Peoples of this continent, in the form of a Voice, is not only long overdue, but right. It is a crucial step in what needs to be done to make this nation fully formed. It will improve the lives of First Nations people and the self-respect of us all. It has taken 235 years, don’t squander this opportunity.

JULIANNE SCHULTZ

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I support the Voice because it's something all of us can contribute to the wellbeing of First Nations people, and it costs us nothing in terms of our own lives - our ongoing affluence and health and career prospects and security. Here is a small gesture that's asked of us - graciously and after careful collaboration and thought - and all we have to do is say yes. I defy anyone to carefully read the Uluru Statement from the Heart and find its terms unreasonable.
JOCK SERONG

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I am voting Yes to the Voice because it will provide an important mechanism for the inclusive governance of our First Nations people. The Voice is not an endpoint for recognition, but a pathway to more inclusive decision-making in relation to issues that affect Indigenous lives. This is a once in a generation opportunity to improve the lives of first Australians in a form chosen by, and at the request of that group. The notion that it could detract from the rights of any other group is simply untrue – the Voice is our chance to show our maturity as a nation.
GRETCHEN SHIRM

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This is just one step, but it is a step forward - and in the right direction. INGA SIMPSON

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I’m voting YES. It’s time to listen.

TIM SINCLAIR

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I don’t think it’s the perfect option, and I’d guess a lot of people feel the same way, but we have a choice of two and YES is the one that takes us in the right direction.

GRAEME SIMISION

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Australians have much to be proud of. We have the oldest living cultures in the world; and we have magnificent landscapes that hold unique Australian story lines. To have our First Peoples enshrined in the National Constitution, and a Voice to Parliament that advises on matters affecting First Nations peoples, will enhance who are as Australians.

CINDY SOLONEC

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I support the YES campaign because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians need a voice in the decisions that affect their lives. I support it because I can’t claim to know about that need better than the thousands of First Nations people involved in the planning, consulting and drafting process for the Uluru Statement from the Heart. I support it because I feel grateful for the clear, generous message contained in that Statement, and I want us to prove ourselves worthy of that generosity - to take up the invitation and walk with people connected to the land by sixty thousand millennia of history, in a movement for a better future. I support it because I don’t expect such an invitation to be offered again.

MIRIAM SVED

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I’m voting to shut up and listen. To challenge myself to listen to the First Nations people of Australia. To really listen, as much as I can, without prejudice and distortion. So, bring it on. YES, to the Voice. It isn’t enough, but let’s begin…

CARRIE TIFFANY

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I am supporting the amending of the Australian Constitution to include a Voice to Parliament because it emerges from the Uluru Statement from the Heart. I see the Statement as a gift of great generosity and of great integrity, offered to all of us who are Australians. It represents a desire and a promise for an Australian nationhood that can be finally unshackled from the worst miseries and injustices emerging from colonisation and of racist division. I also see another promise of the Voice – that it can free us from the demeaning legacy of paternalism, as well as end the self-indulgences of ‘white guilt’ and the equally debilitating politics of ‘perpetual rancour’. I believe embedding the Voice in our constitution is a way forward for all of us, Whitefella and Blackfella, to move towards a common future of shared civility and shared responsibility. I take seriously good faith concerns that people have about altering the Australian Constitution. My response to that is to argue that Indigenous Australians were never party to the formation of the Constitution. This is an opportunity to right that historic wrong. It is also dangerous to lend a constitution a ‘sacredness’ that means it is perpetually sequestered from change or debate. I’d like to believe that our great-great-great grandchildren might one day see a constitutional Voice as no longer necessary. We are not there yet. This is a step towards that mature and reconciled future.

CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS

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This is a moment to operate from a place of strength and compassion. It’s time to give the traditional custodians of this land a say in the issues that affect them. And after decades of polices that have failed Indigenous people and failed to protect Australia’s natural resources, enshrining the Voice is in all of our interests.

LUCIANNE TONTI

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I’ll be voting YES. We’re all in it together and we have to be. That’s how we reframe the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. That’s how we enrich each other’s lives, by standing shoulder-to-shoulder and working to make things better.

MICHELLE SCOTT TUCKER

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I really have no clue how a non-indigenous person such as myself could vote against enshrining a First Nations voice in our constitution that allows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples a direct say in the decisions that affect them specifically. I have no clue how anyone could read the eloquent, unbearably reasonable and impossibly generous Uluru Statement from the Heart and say … Nup. To say YES is but a first symbolic step towards recognition and reparations to Australia’s First Nations Peoples. Like same-sex marriage, I (have to) believe that this simple, decent, humanitarian step will be an overwhelmingly approved and provide a positive moment in the psyche of not just those who need it most, but of the entire country.

JAYNE TUTTLE

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I will be voting YES to recognise and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s ongoing connection over millennia to this amazing land we call Australia. The powerful and generous Uluru Statement from the Heart asks us to listen to what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities want - a say in laws that affect them. The Voice is only a small step, but and optimistic and positive one.

LISA WALKER

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When I vote YES it will be deeply personal. I grew up in, and I’m part of a blended Aboriginal family. I love them. Nuff said.

ALLAYNE WEBSTER

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I feel we must all take responsibility to support the Uluru Statement from the Heart’s call for Voice, Treaty, Truth. Politically, it has been long fought for and is a step to progress self-determination for First Nations people. In terms of justice, it is long overdue and the consequences of a no would prolong and deny this opportunity for progress.
KAYA WILSON

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The Uluru Statement from the Heart, a work of deep reflection and extensive consultation within Aboriginal communities, is a generous gift to our nation. But it’s also a compelling plea for our First Peoples to be seen and properly listened to. it’s an opportunity for all of us - indigenous, native-born and immigrant - to go forward together in a new spirit of respect, honest and hope. For something better. To do better. To be better. And to produce better outcomes for those in our midst whose lives are so often constrained, deformed, devalued and cut short because of trauma, exclusion and the ignorance of others. So I stand with those who’ve asked us to listen. And to their offer of unity, and their plea for a Voice that reflects their expertise, their experience and their ideas, I say YES. From the head and from the heart. YES!

TIM WINTON

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I’m voting YES because it is what has been asked of us by our First Nations people.  And it is the most simple, harmless, modest request.  A non-binding advisory body.  It is time to do the right thing. The world is watching. History is calling.

CLARE WRIGHT

CHARLOTTE WOOD

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