Queensland is the only state in the Commonwealth that is home to the two oldest, living, continuous cultures in the world.
We have a higher total number and proportion of first nations people than most other states.
We have the most to gain from a successful referendum on Saturday, but we also have the most to lose if we let this opportunity pass us by.
Queenslanders are practical and pragmatic people and the Voice is a practical and practical proposal. It’s all about something very simple – listening better, so we get better outcomes.
This is not the idea of politicians like me, or from Canberra, it has come from Indigenous Australians themselves, coming together at Uluru.
Too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are being left behind, with lower life expectancy, higher rates of disease and infant mortality, fewer opportunities for education and training, and higher unemployment.
The current system isn’t working. That’s why Indigenous Australians are asking for a Voice.
Voting YES is an opportunity to help fix this mess.
The NO campaign has no plan and no way of making things better. NO means more of the same failures. It means accepting a gap that isn’t closing is the best Australia can do.
But a YES vote means on October 14, every Queenslander and every Australian will have a once-in-a-generation chance to bring our country together and change it for the better.
Queenslanders are often underestimated but whether it’s cyclones, storms, bushfires or global pandemics, our pragmatism has got us through.
Having travelled right across our state in recent weeks from Winton to Longreach, Rockhampton and Bundaberg and throughout the southeast, I’ve had so many conversations with people who understand better listening can mean better outcomes here in Queensland.
With more than 5000 volunteers working hard to promote the YES vote throughout the state, we’re seeing many Queenslanders come together around constitutional recognition, but we need more of us to grasp this generational opportunity if we are to be successful.
We can rise to the challenge and build a better future for the first of us in ways that will benefit all of us but that all depends on how millions of Queenslanders respond this weekend.
We need more Queenslanders to recognise our current approach isn’t working and we can do better.
This might be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make a difference for First Nations Australians.
Generational opportunities like the Voice don’t come around every day or even every decade, so it’s important that we grab this one with both hands because we don’t know when we’ll get the chance in the future.
Crucial to the success of this referendum is seeing through the deliberate misinformation being peddled by parts of the NO campaign, and going beyond Peter Dutton’s nasty negativity. He has nothing positive to say about the future of our people or our country and this is clearer now than ever.
In the final days of this campaign, you’ll hear a lot about what the Voice isn’t about but when you go to vote, it’s important to focus on the facts.
The Voice is about three things: recognising Indigenous Australians in our constitution, better listening and better outcomes.
NO is a cul-de-sac of division and disappointment.
NO is a vote for decades more of the kind of division and disappointment which has characterised First Nations policy for too long in this country.
We need to put an end to just making policy for First Nations people. We need to make policy with First Nations people.
Better listening through the Voice will deliver better outcomes in the future – for the first of us, but in a way that could lift all of us up together.
This article was first published in The Courier-Mail.
