The Prime Minister said on Wednesday. “Very soon, our nation will have a once-in-a-generation chance to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution and make a positive difference to their lives with a voice.”
If changing constitution and giving a special voice to a community is all that is required to make a positive difference to peoples’ lives, why aren’t we doing it for everyone who is disadvantaged?
The Prime Minister made his statement, ignoring the fact that we have invested billions of dollars in programs and we’ve funded hundreds of voices already. And despite that, a certain percentage of our ATSI community have made little progress. We don’t need a special voice for approximately 80% of the ATSI community. So we need to take off the rose coloured and seriously address the why, of the remaining 18-20% before doing something as radical as changing the constitution in the hope it will be the magic panacea?
I honestly don’t know anyone who doesn’t want the best for people. That includes the best for our ATSI community. In particular, the children who deserve to be successful, productive members of society. Perhaps even aspire to be the Prime Minister or the equivalent of a president should we become a republic. I think that would be something really worth celebrating.
In saying what I’m about to say, I accept this isn’t popular with Yes campaigners. But I firmly believe it needs to be said. Whilst people choose to live in remote areas, insist on living their lives the traditional way and even adhering to some traditional customs and laws progress in closing the gap is almost impossible. Even more so, if they don’t speak English and do not send their kids to school. In those circumstances, the ability to make any meaningful difference is limited.
Why? Because closing the gap would require them to live their lives as the rest of us do. That means being close to adequately resourced schools and medical facilities. With access to technology, adequate infrastructure and, key, with the ability to gain meaningful employment. That isn’t to imply they have to give up their culture entirely as immigrants to our country have proven.
We are a multicultural nation and we have thousands of people who have moved here from foreign lands. Most have kept the important elements of their culture and they have successfully integrated into our Australian society. We as a nation are the richer for it. Those who haven’t and who haven’t learnt to speak the language and who have refused to give up their old way of life are the ones who continue to struggle. That is no different to those in remote areas who continue to struggle and who are disadvantaged.
We have many successful immigrants, just as we have many successful indigenous members of our society. Many of those sit in our parliament, including eleven from our indigenous community. We have successful (genuine) indigenous academics. We have successful indigenous business leaders, lawyers and scientists. We have successful indigenous lobbyists. They have all benefited from living in modern Australia, just as those of us non-indigenous Australians have. The difference being the fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers etc of these people accepted that to be successful in life, you needed an education and you needed to take advantage of progress. They integrated.
I fear changing the constitution, which is a very serious undertaking, will achieve nothing to bridge a gap. Why? Because we haven’t addressed the real elephant in the room.
You can’t live between two worlds, being the traditional way and the modern way. And you can’t help those who are not prepared to help themselves. That is despite the well-intentioned efforts of those who believe you can.
