Will the Voice make a difference?

I’m a bit annoyed at the moment. The No voters are spreading a lot of fear about how awful the Voice would be. And some Yes campaigners (including the Labor party) are responding to this by saying how little the Voice will be able to do. Like “don’t worry, it’s just a powerless advisory board”. That’s not a great selling point!

I’m on board with the Voice just because having representation for the First Peoples in our system of governance is the right thing to do. To me, that’s about correcting an injustice of the past. But I also reckon it will actually help a lot of the problems facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people right now.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart says:

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.

These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own 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.

Uluṟu Statement from the Heart

At the moment, all of the money and effort spent on helping disadvantaged Indigenous people is going to waste. The Closing The Gap reports show that there’s been very little change in rates of poverty, health, education, over the last 20 years. What we’re doing now isn’t working. Something has to change.

The part of the Voice that will help is the second bit of what’s going in the Constitution:

the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;

Proposed section 129 of the Constitution

The Voice would be able to speak directly with Parliament, but also with the “executive government”. That’s all the government departments and agencies like Centrelink, the Human Rights Commission, the Department of Infrastructure.

Instead of just having to passively accept whatever help some government advisor living in Canberra thinks is a good idea, Indigenous people can say what they need and actively work towards it. They can say “we tried that last time your party was in power and it sucked, but we think it could be improved”. Or “this remote community has done a trial with a non-profit group and it went well, we want support to try it in more communities in other states”. That kind of thing.

Here’s some examples from the Yes23 website of when listening to Indigenous people and taking their advice made a real difference:

• In South-East Queensland, the local community-controlled Aboriginal Medical Service increased the number of annual health checks from 550 to over 20,000 over ten years.
• In Arnhem Land, the Dhupuma Barker school worked alongside community leaders to co-design everything from lesson planning to uniforms and lunches. This genuine partnership has driven stronger school attendance rates and better results. The ‘Dhupuma Firebirds’ Robotics team recently competed in the VEX International Championships in Texas, the first team from the Northern Territory ever to qualify.

Every bit of scientific research I’ve ever seen about helping a group of people in trouble says that the most effective method is to ask them what they need. The examples I always think of are to do with homelessness. A lot of government programs for un-housed people focus on interest-free loans and mental health support. But you know what actually helps? Asking homeless people what they need and giving them the cash and support to get it. When you do that, people use the money to replace lost ID and phones, which helps with applying for rentals and jobs and bank accounts. They buy bicycles or transport cards or even cars.

People are so afraid that someone who is homeless, or addicted to drugs, or unemployed, or whatever social problem they’re having, can’t be trusted to help themselves or take personal responsibility for their life. They think charity and government control is the only thing that can be done. But that’s bullshit, and always has been.

You have to actually listen to people in trouble instead of thinking you know better than them. And that’s why I think the Voice will actually help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I want to hear what they’ve got to say.