The NSW Government today announced it is directing the Consumer Trustee to run a new tender under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap to ensure the State has the firming infrastructure it needs to provide cheap, clean and reliable energy well into the future.
Minister for Energy Matt Kean said that the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has projected increased electricity demand over the coming years, driven by more electric vehicles, electrification of homes and businesses and updates to other inputs and assumptions in their Energy Security Target Monitor Report, meaning more firming infrastructure is required to keep the grid reliable.
“NSW has the most ambitious renewable energy policy anywhere in the country, helping to replace ageing coal fired power stations and reach net zero emissions,” Mr Kean said.
“Firming infrastructure is needed alongside renewable energy infrastructure to balance the grid, helping to keep the lights on when it isn’t sunny or windy, or when there is high demand.”
“The firming tender will be open to all technology types, but projects will be required to have an emissions intensity lower than the most recent NSW grid average and achieve net zero scope 1 emissions by 2035.”
The Consumer Trustee, AEMO Services, will now prepare an Infrastructure Investment Objectives Report to determine the size and timing of tenders, to ensure reliable energy while minimising costs to consumers.
Following the finalisation of AEMO’s 2022 Integrated System Plan and the Energy Security Target Monitor Report, the NSW Office of Energy and Climate Change anticipates that at least 350MW of firming infrastructure will be required within the Sydney-Newcastle-Wollongong sub-region, however the final size of the tender will be determined by the independent Consumer Trustee.
FIRST BILL PASSED DELIVERS AGED CARE REFORMS
History has been made with the Albanese Labor Government passing its first bill through the 47th Parliament, delivering on commitments to reform aged care. Today, the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022 was passed, enabling major improvements to aged care in line with the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
The Albanese Labor Government made a promise to restore dignity to our most vulnerable citizens and this bill is a critical first step in improving aged care service.
This legislation will replace the outdated Aged Care Funding Instrument with a new aged care subsidy funding model – the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) model, for full implementation from 1 October 2022.
AN-ACC will offer a more equitable approach, with funding that better matches the provider’s costs of meeting the care needs of residents.
The legislation will also enable the Department of Health and Aged Care to publish star ratings for all residential aged care services by the end of 2022.
The Star Ratings system will put a spotlight on the sector, allowing older Australians and their families to compare quality and safety performance of different services and providers.
The legislation also includes measures to extend the Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) to all in‑home care providers, commencing from 1 December 2022.
The legislation also introduces a new Code of Conduct for approved providers, aged care workers and governing persons from 1 December 2022.
the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said:
“The final report of the aged care Royal Commission was titled ‘Care, Dignity and Respect’. Those three little words are the least we can provide our older Australians who built this country.
“With today’s passage of the Royal Commission Response Bill the Government has taken a significant step to ensure older Australians receive the care, dignity and respect they deserve.
“Having an aged care bill in response to that Royal Commission become the first to pass through Parliament shows how seriously we take reform in the sector.
“I made promises to the Australian people to improved aged care and inside our first ten weeks we have begun delivering on those promises.
“The Labor Government is committed to improving the care and support of our older Australians. This bill will usher in a new standard
Minister for Aged Care, Anika Wells said:
“We made a promise to Australians that we would take better care of their loved ones and the fact the first bill being passed through the 47th Parliament helps reform aged care shows how determined we are to improve the sector.
“After nine years of neglect, reform in aged care has finally begun and will continue to be driven so our most vulnerable people are treated with the dignity they deserve.
“The task to reform aged care will take years but this bill passing is a critical first step.”
Flood clean-up program extended to assist private land holders
NSW Environment Protection Authority
A key flood clean-up program has been expanded to assist private landowners in affected areas remove debris from their land following this year’s destructive floods.
The Land-based Clean-up Program is being run by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and now includes the clean-up of large, man-made and hazardous debris that has remained on properties after flood waters have receded.
NSW EPA flood recovery manager Martin Puddey said the Program would reduce the cost and burden for those recovering from the flood events and benefit the local environment.
“This is an excellent addition to the program. The Land Based Flood Debris Clean-Up Program has removed more than 420m3 of flood debris since February,” Mr Puddey said.
The Land-based Program had previously focused primarily on the removal of flood debris from public flood plains and low-lying public land.
“Community members in flood impacted areas can apply to have debris that washed up on their land removed such as metal objects, farm equipment, destroyed sheds or parts of caravans and agricultural chemical containers” Mr Puddey said.
Private land holders can apply for flood debris to be removed under the Program using an application form on the Service NSW website.
“Once assessed and salvaged by qualified experts, these large items will be sorted and an effort is made to recover and recycle components such as aluminium and steel where possible,” Mr Puddey said.
Mr Puddey also praised the collaborative efforts of impacted communities working with government, with local contractors engaged where possible to support clean-up and recovery efforts.
“The communities in flood impacted areas have been through very tough times in the last couple of years and it’s encouraging to see local businesses and contractors assisting in the recovery” Mr Puddey said.
Mr Puddey said the EPA had also worked well with other government agencies such as National Parks and Wildlife Service, Crown Lands and Aboriginal Ranger groups throughout the Program to protect sensitive environments and culturally significant sites.
The Land-based Program is funded under the joint Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
Members of the community can assist the clean-up of their local area by reporting flood debris to the Environment Line on 131 555 or info@epa.nsw.gov.au
The full list of disaster declared areas can be found on the NSW Government website.
RBA needs to hit pause on rate rises
Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Nick McKim, has responded to the news of steep falls in house prices ahead of tomorrow’s RBA meeting.
“The RBA needs to hit pause.”
“Inflation is being driven by supply side shocks and corporate profiteering.
“Jacking up interest rates will not fix these problems.
“The RBA needs to be honest about this with the Australian public.
“Monetary policy cannot curb inflation without punishing workers, renters and new homeowners, none of whom are the cause of the problem.
“They should not increase rates tomorrow.
“And the Treasurer needs to step in and use the levers that the Australian public have given him.
“We need a super profits tax to reign in corporate profiteering and to fund cost-of-living relief, such as free childcare, and putting dental care and mental health into Medicare.
“We can’t wait for the government’s review to get fiscal and monetary policy working together.
“A failure to use fiscal policy will only increase the likelihood of the RBA overreaching.
“The government also needs to step in to help new-owners and renters.
“Having lured new home-owners into taking on record levels of debt, the RBA is now punishing them doubly.
“Interest rate rises reduce the value of their asset and increase their monthly mortgage repayments.
“Getting rid of negative gearing and capital gains tax would reduce demand in the housing market without affecting mortgage repayments for homeowners.
“And the additional revenue could help fund 1 million new social houses that will provide renters with an affordable and secure alternative to the Hunger Games that is Australia’s private rental market.”
Vibrant program sets the scene for New Annual’s return
With an exciting new program and the blockbuster Van Gogh Alive exhibition at Foreshore Park, City of Newcastle’s flagship arts festival will return this September with a vibrant showcase of art, culture and creativity.
City of Newcastle has announced the program for its New Annual 2022, which will kick off with the opening of Van Gogh Alive on 22 September followed by an immersive festival of dance, music, theatre, visual arts and Indigenous workshops, with installations in the city’s cultural precinct until 2 October. As a major installation, Van Gogh Alive will extend beyond the New Annual festival, running to 23 October 2022.
Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said this year’s New Annual program is eclectic and ambitious and will be a drawcard to the city.
“We are thrilled to once again deliver this amazing arts and cultural event in September, which will allow locals and visitors to discover a new side of Newcastle as they witness the spirit and energy of our city and its creative community during the festival,” Cr Nelmes said.
The New Annual 2022 program features local and nationally renowned artists delivering a mix of free, ticketed and family-friendly events. The breadth of the program is highlighted by its 14 headline acts including ‘COLOSSUS’, a contemporary dance performance created by internationally renowned Australian choreographer Stephanie Lake, ‘This Land’, a musical showcase of award-winning and acclaimed First Nations performers, and ‘Radial’, a fusion of film-making and improvised community performance presented by Hunter Central Coast Development Corporation.
City of Newcastle recently announced that the New Annual festival is bringing the immersive, multi-sensory experience of Van Gogh Alive to Newcastle’s premier major events space, Foreshore Park. It will be presented in association with Andrew Kay Management in a specially designed 2,300-square-metre gallery known as The Grand Pavilion and run from the start of New Annual to 23 October.
Other areas of the city will also be transformed with installations as part of New Annual such as a purpose-built stage in Civic Park and the architecturally-designed ‘Pavilion of Sand’ in Wheeler Place.
Cr Nelmes said City of Newcastle is proud of the success of the inaugural festival in February 2021 and the second event will be a major drawcard for the city
“The inaugural New Annual held in early 2021, was embraced by the Newcastle community. Our flagship cultural event provided an important economic boost across the arts, hospitality, and tourism sectors, while also celebrating and showcasing our creative city,” Cr Nelmes said.
The 2021 New Annual attracted over 30,000 people, supporting more than 500 artists and 250 event staff, crew, and volunteers, as well as a strong increase in occupancy rates and revenue among local accommodation providers.
The full New Annual program and ticket sales are available online now at www.newannual.com
New Annual Program Preview
VAN GOGH ALIVE
The immersive, multi-sensory experience of Van Gogh Alive will held at Newcastle’s premier major events space, Foreshore Park. It will be presented in a specially designed 2,300-square-metre gallery known as The Grand Pavilion. Van Gogh will remain in Newcastle for six weeks, extending beyond the New Annual Festival to 23 October 2022. General public tickets for Van Gogh Alive will go on sale from 4 August.
THIS LAND
Unite with friends and family to celebrate the return of ‘This Land’, a First Nations celebration of the sound, soul, and spirit of the many nations in this country. The musical showcase will highlight a handful of award-winning and acclaimed First Nations music artists who are shaping the voices of the next generation.
RADIAL
A fusion of film-making and improvised community performance, ‘Radial’ is a collaborative process designed to capture a portrait of a community in motion. A partnership between City of Newcastle, Tantrum Youth Arts and Back to Back Theatre, ‘Radial’ will be filmed at several Newcastle locations during New Annual using a special circular camera track, culminating in a public screening on the final day of the festival at the Civic Theatre.
CREATION
‘CREATION’ is a major exhibition of artist Deborah Kelly’s work at The Lock Up accompanied by a series of free public workshops in costume-making, song, and dance. Working with local artists, choirs, and dancers, the workshops lead to a spectacular procession and concert at the City Hall showcasing the songs of CREATION.
COLOSSUS
A contemporary dance performance created by internationally renowned Australian choreographer Stephanie Lake. The exhilarating performance features riveting, and hypnotic dance work performed by Sydney Dance Company’s pre-professional and local dance artists, which explores relationships between the individual and the collective, with a cast of 50 performing as one on the Civic Theatre stage
PAVILION OF SAND
‘Pavilion of Sand’ will return with an architecturally designed, modern art installation reflecting Newcastle’s historic sand dune topography. The Pavilion of Sand will transform Wheeler Place into a visually spectacular space that will connect the city to the Awabakal and Worimi cultures with a range of First Nations-led programming including live music, weaving, workshops, conversation, dance, and reflection.
TITAN ARUM
Justin Shoulder’s TITAN ARUM ignites your imagination with this exotic performance in a landscape both familiar and alien. A sensory ceremony of dance, light and sound in a communal garden with hanging fruits and carnivorous plants, the immersive installation work will be activated with live performances throughout the festival at 164 Hunter St.
EX MACHINA
Hailed as one of Australia’s most exciting and forward-thinking ensembles, Omega Ensemble performs a thrilling program of complex and driving music from important contemporary voices including Bryce Dessner, Missy Mazzoli, Alex Turley, and with two exciting world premieres from Nico Muhly and Christopher Cerrone. This special presentation departs from the traditional concert hall and arrives at Newcastle Museum for a stellar performance in front of the prized 150-year-old steam locomotive.
MENAGERIE
‘Menagerie’ is a new, interactive community performance from Curious Legends. Across four workshops, festival-goers of all ages will help create a large-scale giant illuminated puppet, culminating in a community celebration on the last day of the festival. Participants of ‘Well’, a separate event on the program aimed at children aged 6-11, will also work on a cumulative artwork that will form part of Menagerie’s Gentle Giant.
More support for households hit by floods
Rental support payments for flood victims and grants for rural landholders will soon be available for all communities affected by the June-July NSW flood event with more than $23 million in relief funding from the Commonwealth and New South Wales governments.
The jointly funded package through Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) includes:
- Rental Support payments for up to 16 weeks to help households secure accommodation.
- A Rural Landholder Grants program providing grants of up to $25,000 for rural landholders who are ineligible for existing grants.
Federal Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt said the funding package will be available to people in all 42 local government areas (LGAs) subject to a natural disaster declaration.
“The rental support payments and rural landholder grants will help with the immediate costs of clean-up and repair, which is an important first step in the recovery process,” Senator Watt said.
New South Wales Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience and Minister for Flood Recovery Steph Cooke said the funding will flow through Service NSW and the Rural Assistance Authority.
“The rental support payments covering up to 16 weeks rent will help people find safe, secure accommodation while they begin the recovery process, and the $25,000 grants will help kick-start the clean-up for the many rural landholders who’ve been affected by flooding yet again,” Ms Cooke said.
The 42 LGAs subject to a natural disaster declaration following the June-July flood event are: Bayside, Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Camden, Canterbury Bankstown, Campbelltown, Central Coast, Cessnock, Cumberland, Dungog, Fairfield, Georges River, Hawkesbury, Hornsby, Kempsey, Kiama, Lake Macquarie, Lithgow, Liverpool, Maitland, Mid Coast, Muswellbrook, Nambucca, Narromine, Newcastle, Northern Beaches, Oberon, Penrith, Port Macquarie Hastings, Port Stephens, Randwick, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven, Singleton, Strathfield, Sutherland, The Hills, Upper Lachlan, Warren, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly and Wollongong.
New support staff to lighten teacher workload
Teachers in NSW will be able to spend more time teaching thanks to the introduction of hundreds of new roles in admin, leadership and support.
Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said more than 200 new administration roles will be trialled in public schools from Term 4 2022 to reduce teacher workload.
“Our teachers are skilled professionals and their time is precious. However, they are stretched across too many non-teaching and low value activities,” Ms Mitchell said.
“Running a modern-day school is complex. We need to look at the work staff do in schools and think differently about how it gets done.”
The new admin roles will work with our teachers to undertake non-teaching tasks such as data entry, paperwork, and coordinating events and excursions.
Ms Mitchell said the new roles will reduce the admin burden on teachers, and open doors to people wanting to re-enter the workforce or upskill.
“It’s a great opportunity for parents and carers who have the necessary skills to do these jobs well, to work within the hours of school drop-offs and pick-ups,” Ms Mitchell said.
“It’s also a chance to up-skill our current non-teaching, school-based staff to provide greater support to our teachers.”
In addition, recruitment has started for 780 Assistant Principals (Curriculum and Instruction) roles to support teachers to adopt best practice and use resources as effectively as possible.
Ms Mitchell said the NSW Government is committed to continuous school improvement and providing principals and teachers with the support and resources to drive better student outcomes.
“This is only the beginning, and we will be scaling up what we see working once this trial concludes next year,” Ms Mitchell said.
“We will continue working closely with principals, teachers and non-teaching staff to ensure that time is spent on what matters most – teaching and supporting our students.”
The boost to the workforce is supported by research by the University of Technology, Sydney which found that instructional leaders, robust system support and quality professional learning significantly improve teachers’ capacity to meet students’ needs.
NSW rental hotspots revealed for Homelessness Week
A new analysis of rental data by the Everybody’s Home campaign to coincide with Homelessness Week reveals the NSW regions where renters are hardest hit by the toxic combination of surging increases and stagnant wages.
The three year analysis cross references SQM rental data with wage growth for workers in retail or health care and social assistance and rental increases. Workers in those occupations saw average wages increase only 2.3 per cent annually over three years.
But over the three years leading up to 22 July, 2022, rents surged by the following average amounts each year.
| 3 year annualised change | Rent 28 July 2022 | |
| South Coast | 13.4 | $599.91 |
| Central Tablelands | 12.8% | $463.68 |
| Murray Region | 12.2% | $385.146 |
| Riverina | 10.8% | $389.10 |
| North Coast | 10.5% | $570.22 |
| Broken Hill/Dubbo | 10.1% | $384.69 |
| Blue Mountains | 9% | $545.03 |
| Central Coast | 8.9% | $594.03 |
Everybody’s Home national spokesperson, Kate Colvin, said the compounding impact of spiking rents and stagnant wages was smashing living standards and putting people at risk of homelessness.
“We know that rental stress is the gateway to homelessness,” Kate Colvin said. “When you combine surging rents with flat wages you put people in a financial vice. For the past three years that vice has been tightening.
“Homelessness providers are reporting stories of families with full time breadwinners being forced to live in tents. In a wealthy nation like Australia this is nothing short of a national disgrace.
“The recent change of Government represents an opportunity for a reset. For a decade construction of new social and affordable housing has withered. Now is the time to get moving and give people on low and modest incomes genuine choice.
“Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese have been clear that public spending should expand the economy and improve productivity. Social housing meets those objectives better than almost anything. There really is no better return on the taxpayer’s dollar than providing the homes Australian families need to be healthy, productive workers, and to raise their families with the stability and security of a decent home.”
The Greens respond to Albanese’s announcement at the Garma Festival
Following the Albanese Government’s announcement at the Garma Festival, Greens First Nations spokesperson, Gunnai, Gunditjmara and DjabWurrung Senator Lidia Thorpe, has announced that she will seek discussions with the government about their proposal for a Voice, with the aim of seeing other areas critical to First Nations justice also progressed.
Senator Lidia Thorpe said:
“I’ll be seeking discussions with the Albanese Government about their proposal for a Voice to Parliament and putting urgent, critical matters for First Nations people on the table. These are things that will save people’s lives, before any referendum.
“I want the government to support our Bill to back the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, implement the remaining recommendations from the Stolen Generations and Deaths in Custody Royal Commissions, and back the Greens’ plans for concrete steps towards a Treaty.
“We don’t have to wait until next year to have our rights legislated. Labor can support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which is being debated in Parliament on Monday, to help guarantee that our rights will be protected.
“Labor has an opportunity to show us that they’re committed to action, not just symbolism, by implementing all of the recommendations in full from the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the 1997 Bringing them Home Report. This is urgent, and overdue.
“The Greens also want to see the Government make meaningful progress towards Treaty, the potentially more difficult but ultimately more transformative part of the Uluṟu statement.
“The Greens will be bringing these critical reforms to the table in discussions with Labor about justice for First Nations people.
“First Nations sovereignty has never been ceded. The Greens will always honour that.”
——
BACKGROUND:
- Greens 2022 Election commitment is to ensure progress towards Treaty, as well as action to save lives now. Read more here
PM ADDRESS TO GARMA FESTIVAL
Ngarra ga Buku guru-pan Gumatj, Yothu Yindi nha go Yolgnu mala.
[Translation: I pay my respect to Gumatj, Yothu Yindi and Yolngu Mala.]
I acknowledge the people of the Yolngu nation. I recognise all the elders, leaders and families who have made great contributions to our nation.
In particular, I acknowledge the Gumatj clan whose lands we are meeting on today.
Last night’s Bungul was a deeply moving moment for me, it was an honour to bear witness to dance and song and story and tradition tracing back some 60,000 years.
As the breeze came across me, your ancestors’ presence in these lands and waters makes real your 60,000 years and more, custodianship of this land.
And I was also grateful for the chance to meet, again, with Gallarwuy and share in his wisdom, to talk about the opportunities and the challenges in this special part of Australia.
Friends,
I am delighted to be back at Garma for my fourth visit – and I am delighted Garma is back.
Here – on what is, was and always will be Aboriginal land – Today, I re-affirm my Government’s solemn promise to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart, in full.
I’m joined by my colleagues:
- Linda Burney, the Minister for Indigenous Australians
- Senator Patrick Dodson, Special Envoy for Reconciliation and the Implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart
- Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians and Indigenous Health
- Attorney General Mark Dreyfus
- Luke Gosling, the Member for Solomon
- Chief Minister Natasha Fyles
- And our new Member for Lingiari, Marion Scrymgour
And in the spirit of co-operation, which is so necessary – can I acknowledge the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Julian Leeser.
Thanks, Julian. I look forward to working with you.
We are all here, eager to work with you, to bring our commitment to Uluru to life.
To see Australia answer that gracious, patient call for respect and truth and unity.
The Uluru Statement is a hand outstretched, a moving show of faith in Australian decency and Australian fairness from people who have been given every reason to forsake their hope in both.
I am determined, as a Government, as a country, that we grasp that hand of healing, we repay that faith, we rise to the moment.
To work with you in lifting the words off the page and lifting the whole nation up:
- With a new spirit of partnership between government and First Nations people
- Through the work of Makarrata, treaty-making and truth-telling
- And by enshrining a Voice to Parliament, in the Constitution.
We approach these tasks and the work of constitutional change, with humility and with hope.
Humility: because over 200 years of broken promises and betrayals, failures and false starts demand nothing less.
Humility because – so many times – the gap between the words and deeds of governments has been as wide as this great continent.
But also hope.
Hope in your abilities as advocates and campaigners, as champions for this cause.
And hope because I believe the tide is running our way. I believe the momentum is with us, as never before.
I believe the country is ready for this reform.
I believe there is room in Australian hearts for the Statement from the Heart.
We are seeking a momentous change – but it is also a very simple one.
It’s not a matter of special treatment, or preferential power.
It’s about consulting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the decisions that affect you.
Nothing more – but nothing less.
This is simple courtesy, it is common decency.
It recognises the centuries-old failure that my dear friend Paul Keating spoke of at Redfern, the failure to ask the most basic human question: how would I feel, if this were done to me?
And along with common courtesy, it is common sense.
Respect works.
When a government listens to people with experience, with earned knowledge of kinship and country and culture and community…
…when we trust in the value of self-determination and empowerment…
…then the policies and programs are always more effective.
We see it with:
- Justice Reinvestment
- Indigenous Rangers
- Respecting Homelands
- And the National Partnership Agreement process driven by the Coalition of Peaks and the remarkable Pat Turner.
There are success stories out there – but we know they are not universal.
Enshrining a Voice in the Constitution gives the principles of respect and consultation, strength and status.
Writing the Voice into the Constitution means a willingness to listen won’t depend on who is in government or who is Prime Minister.
The Voice will exist and endure outside of the ups and downs of election cycles and the weakness of short-term politics.
It will be an unflinching source of advice and accountability.
Not a third chamber, not a rolling veto, not a blank cheque.
But a body with the perspective and the power and the platform to tell the government and the parliament the truth about what is working and what is not.
To tell the truth – with clarity, with conviction.
Because a Voice enshrined in the Constitution cannot be silenced.
Friends,
I believe the best way to seize the momentum is by settling – as soon as possible – on the referendum question that will be put to the people of Australia.
Now, I respect the fact that many people have done a power of good work to bring us to this point, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander campaigners, best represented by the delegates to the Uluru Convention in 2017.
I am grateful and I honour everyone who has made a contribution to the process.
And now, I am hoping we can draw those threads together.
I am hoping we can progress the efforts of good-willed, hard-working people who want to see the nation move forward and justice realised.
Recognising that this is one of the steps in our nation’s journey of healing.
Our starting point is a recommendation to add three sentences to the Constitution, in recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the First Peoples of Australia:
- There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
- The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to Parliament and the Executive Government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
- The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
These draft provisions can be seen as the next step in the discussion about constitutional change.
This may not be the final form of words – but I think it’s how we can get to a final form of words.
In the same way, alongside these provisions, I would like us to present the Australian people with the clearest possible referendum question.
We should consider asking our fellow Australians something as simple, but something as clear, as this:
Do you support an alteration to the Constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?
A straightforward proposition.
A simple principle.
A question from the heart.
We can use this question – and the provisions – as the basis for further consultation.
Not as a final decision but as the basis for dialogue, something to give the conversation shape and form.
I ask all Australians of goodwill to engage on this.
Respectfully, purposefully we are seeking to secure support for the question and the associated provisions in time for a successful referendum – in this term of Parliament.
If not now, when?
Back in 1967, not a single member of the House of the Representatives or the Senate voted against the referendum provisions.
In the same spirit – I hope that the Opposition and the crossbench will support the proposal, join the campaign for a Yes vote and bring their supporters to the cause.
We will seek-out every ally and every advocate from, to quote the Statement, ‘every point under the southern sky’.
Fundamentally, this is a reform I believe every Australian can embrace, from all walks of life, in every part of the country, from every faith and background and tradition.
Because it speaks to values that we all share and honour – fairness, respect, decency.
Enshrining a Voice will be a national achievement. It will be above politics.
A unifying Australian moment.
There may well be misinformation and fear campaigns to counter.
But perhaps the greatest threat to the cause is indifference.
The notion that this is a nice piece of symbolism – but it will have no practical benefit.
Or that somehow advocating for a Voice comes at the expense of expanding economic opportunity, or improving community safety, or lifting education standards or helping people get the health care they deserve or find the housing they need.
Championing a Voice won’t stop us from upgrading all-weather roads, so communities can get the supplies and services they need.
It won’t delay our plan to train 500 new Aboriginal healthcare workers.
It won’t stand in the way of our new investments in lifesaving kidney dialysis treatment.
Let us all understand this, very clearly: Australia does not have to choose between improving peoples’ lives and amending the Constitution.
We can do both – and we have to.
Because 121 years of Commonwealth governments arrogantly believing they know enough to impose their own solutions on Aboriginal people have brought us to this point.
This torment of powerlessness.
- A life expectancy gap of 20 years.
- Some of the worst incarceration rates in the world.
- A broken system that burns billions of dollars and delivers precious little for the people who are supposed to be able to trust in it.
And if governments simply continue and insist they know better – then things will get worse.
Friends,
In my lifetime, there has been an extraordinary and joyous change in the way Australians from all walks of life have embraced the privilege we have to share this island continent with the world’s oldest continuous culture.
We have cast aside the discriminatory fiction of terra nullius and offered a National Apology to the Stolen Generations.
We have said Sorry – and begun the task of making good.
States and territories are embarked on agreement-making, truth-telling, and the work of treaty.
First Nations people sit in our parliaments in record numbers and serve as Ministers.
Our environment benefits from the wisdom of people who have cared for it and thrived in it, through hundreds of generations.
The cult of forgetfulness, ‘the Great Australian silence’ that dishonored our history has been broken by a chorus of song and language and art and sport and celebration.
You haven’t just witnessed that change – you’ve fought for it, you’ve championed it, you’ve been the spark and carried the fire to every corner of this vast country.
And I believe Australians – as fair-minded people, recognise that if we want to share in the riches of 60,000 years of history and tradition…
…then we also share in the responsibility for helping First Nations people build and own a better future.
Because we are all diminished, all of us, when First Nations people are denied their right to a happy and fulfilling life, denied the chance to play a full part in the life of our country.
We are all diminished. And we are all involved.
And soon – all of us – will have a chance to exercise our democratic right and our basic human responsibility to vote for something better.
To have a sense of ownership over the change that this country so desperately needs.
Friends,
A referendum is a high hurdle to clear, you know that and so do we.
We recognise the risks of failure – but we also recognise the risk of failing to try.
We see this referendum as a magnificent opportunity for Australia.
I am optimistic that this historic decision, this long-overdue embrace of truth and justice and decency and respect for First Nations people will be voted into law by the people of Australia.
The voice of the Australian people will create a Voice to Parliament.
All Australians have the chance to own this change, to be proud of it, to be counted and heard on the right side of history.
To vote the unique Australian gift of the wisdom of the world’s oldest continuing civilisation into the Constitution of our nation, into our birth certificate.
My optimism for the success of this referendum derives from my optimistic view of the Australian character.
And I am hopeful, in years to come, when we gather here at Garma, we will be able to measure that success not just by the number of people who vote for a Voice…
…but by the lives that the Voice helps to change.
The communities it empowers, the opportunities it creates, the justice it delivers, the security it will bring to First Nations people around our country.
I am determined for us to succeed in this great project.
And – working together, with humility, with hope – I am absolutely sure we can.