Throughout the Voice campaign,Thorpe had facilitated regular sessions at Dardi Munwurro,an Aboriginal family violence service he helped establish in Melbourne’s northern suburbs,for anyone in the community – black fellas or white – who wanted to yarn about what they were experiencing and feeling about the referendum.
Dardi Munwurro director Alan Thorpe says treaty is the way forward for Aboriginal people.Justin McManus
He’d also promised that whatever the result,he’d have another session on the Monday after the vote.
When Monday came,so did the mob. About 50 or 60 people crowded into the Auntie Alma Gathering Place,an outdoor meeting space named after a formidable and widely admired social reformer,to reflect on what,for so many Aboriginal people,had been a bruising ordeal. “That was the biggest group we’d had,” he says. “It was packed.”
As the session began with a smoking ceremony and great cleansing,Thorpe detected a strange energy. “It was a sombre feeling,” he says. “People were just really hurt and angered by the result. I reckon there was a bit of relief as well for some people.”
Once people started sharing their reflections and emotions about the vote,the mood shifted. By the session’s end,a local comedian was on his feet delivering an impromptu stand-up routine which had the mob in stitches. “A bit of black humour,” Thorpe says.
One of the reasons for the mood shift is that,in Victoria,Aboriginal people have a clear sense of where things need to go from here. Since 2016,a year before the,the Victorian government has been working with the state’s traditional owners towards treaty. At Monday’s session at Dardi Munwurro,First People’s Assembly co-chair Ngarra Murray and fellow members Gary Murray and Alister Thorpe were among the crowd. They spoke about what treaty could deliver.
Co-chairs of the First Peoples Assembly Gunditjmara man Rueben Berg and Wamba Wamba,Yorta Yorta,Dhudhuuroa and Dja Dja Wurrung woman Ngarra Murray.Justin McManus
Ngarra Murray says the referendum result,and the clear sense of rejection carried within,has strengthened the resolve of the assembly to realise treaty,a recognition of Aboriginal sovereignty with the potential to reframe the future relationship between black and white Australia. Fewer than four in 10 Australians supported the Voice but,to enter a treaty,Aboriginal Victorians won’t need popular support or affirmation – only a state government willing to finish what it started.
“We are already on the path to treaty in Victoria and that started long before the referendum became a focus of the national discussion,so while we thought a federal Voice would have had its benefits and be complementary to our work,the outcome of the referendum doesn’t really change what we are doing here,” Murray says.
“Things are already in motion in Victoria,and we put in the hard yards making sure everyone in our community knows they are welcome to be part of this journey and that they can help choose the destination. I will say though that the emotional toll the referendum has had on our communities is very real,I can’t understate the collective exhaustion and hurt our community is experiencing. But as far as Treaty in Victoria goes,the referendum hasn’t changed anything,it’s back to business for us.”
Beyond the headline-grabbing claims and counter-claims of the Voice campaign,Victoria has been quietly progressing its ambition to treaty with its First Peoples. The process is intended to secure a series of treaties,both at statewide level and individually with First Nations groups recognised through their respective clans,language groups and relationship with Country. It will acknowledge the ongoing harms caused by dispossession and create a broad legal framework for greater self-determination.
In August,the newly established Treaty Authority advertised nationally for applicants to serve as its inaugural members – Aboriginal people who will umpire treaty negotiations between the state and Aboriginal groups. The selection panel,which is chaired by Indigenous health advocate Karinda Taylor and includes former state Aboriginal affairs minister Richard Wynne,has completed its initial round of interviews with applicants and developed a long list of candidates.
As early as next week,the managers of the Self Determination Fund,a company wholly owned by the First Peoples Assembly,will issue guidelines about applying for grants to access the $35 million in seed money provided by the Victorian government. Early grants are likely to go towards treaty preparations – lawyers,surveying and other professional services as required. The government has promised to add another $30 million to the fund once treaty negotiations begin next year.
Murray says the First Peoples Assembly is still developing the log of claims it will take into negotiations but the overarching theme is clear.
“At a big picture level,I guess the key thing we’re looking for is a transfer of decision-making power back into Aboriginal hands. We also want to rejuvenate pride in our cultures and languages and make sure they are recognised and respected. I think part of that is seeing our culture shared and embraced across the state.
“The politicians need to recognise that Aboriginal people are the experts when it comes to Aboriginal people,so if we want to see better outcomes for our communities,we must put Aboriginal people in the driver’s seat.”
The loss of the Voice referendum has,for the forseeable future,ended any prospect of constitutional recognition of Australia’s Indigenous people. It also reminds Ian Hamm,a Yorta Yorta man who has worked for decades in government and business to advance the interests of Aboriginal people,of a truism in Australian politics.
“A wise head in politics said something to me many years ago,” he recalls. “We were just having a chat and he said ‘Ian,as much as it pains me to say this,there are no votes in black fellas. You won’t win an election on Aboriginal stuff,but you can damn sure lose one.’ That is what played out last weekend.”
Hamm’s greatest concern about the failed referendum is not the result but how the campaign weaponised Aboriginal affairs. Where closing the gap and constitutional recognition were for many years bipartisan goals,Hamm fears that the referendum campaign has turned Aboriginal policy into another roiling cultural war,akin to the climate or gender debates. The impact was seen immediately after Saturday’s results were published.
Yorta Yorta man Ian Hamm fears the referendum has weaponised Aboriginal affairs.Justin McManus
Within days of the referendum,the Liberal National Party in Queensland,prompting Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to warn that no agreement could be reached without bipartisan support. In NSW,Premier Chris Minns has only just started.
“I’m starting our process in the full knowledge that it’s going to be complex and difficult,” he said. “What I’m saying in the aftermath of the referendum vote and the decision by Australians not to support it means that we have to go back to the First Nations people and talk to them. There’s no easy answers when it comes to next steps. I don’t have easy answers.”
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney casts her Yes vote alongside NSW Premier Chris Minns.Jenny Evans/Getty Images
In both those states,First Nations treaty aspirations now look like collateral damage from the Voice referendum. In Victoria,the treaty process is far more advanced. So far,Jacinta Allan’s government has given no sign that its commitment is wavering. Across the political aisle,a speech to parliament delivered on Tuesday night by Liberal MP Beverley McArthur foreshadowed a policy headache for John Pesutto’s party room that could see a renewed push by some members to revisit support of the treaty process.
“The fact that only the ACT and wealthy inner-urban electorates voted Yes is telling,” McArthur told parliament. “It is remarkable that the Northern Territory clearly voted no too. It shows that last weekend,electorally the deepest divide was not between Indigenous and non-Indigenous but between the inner-city elites of the eastern states and the rest of the country.
“The Yes campaign took people for granted,relying on optimistic early polling,with nothing to offer but emotional blackmail and personal smears when the sentiment changed. The architects of treaty in Victoria must take note – they cannot blindly progress without properly making the case and taking Victorians with them.”
McArthur tells this masthead the referendum should serve as a timely reminder of what happens when governments try to lead people where they don’t want to go.
“There are a lot of noisy voices and a lot of people have been silent,” she says. “The referendum showed how out of touch politicians can get from their constituencies. Not only politicians;what about the corporate sector,celebrities and sporting codes? I think all political leaders need to take notice of what the people have said. They would be silly not to.”
For now,Pesutto is playing for time. “Our position is,we are going to wait and see what the government proposes,” he said. “Everybody is assessing the implications of what happened on the weekend.”
For Ian Hamm,the febrile political climate surrounding Aboriginal affairs suggests treaty in Victoria can still be realised,but the road ahead just got a lot bumpier. He says the referendum has revealed what most Australian people really think about Aboriginal people and their place in this country. The picture is not flattering,although Hamm hastens to add he would rather be in Victoria,where the vote was relatively close,than anywhere else.
“The ’67 referendum wasn’t really about the two constitutional amendments that were put up,it was a question of whether the Aborigines belong in this country and the county said yes,” he explains. “This referendum wasn’t really about the Voice,it was whether Aborigines should be allowed to speak. The answer came back no.
“The referendum redefined what our relationship is between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Now we know where we stand. Now we know what the rules of the game are. We live in an age of the triumph of politics over policy,so we have to fight in that realm. In treaty,we need to be more focused and have harder edges. From the Aboriginal perspective it is a lot clearer where we have to take treaty.”
Hamm says that throughout the referendum debate,it was frustrating to see Aboriginal Australia reduced to a cliche;a series of gaps and problems to be solved. The emphasis on remote and regional disadvantage is disconnected from the experience of Aboriginal people living in big cities – “the children of a lesser dreaming” – as Hamm calls them. He says that Saturday’s poll result made Aboriginal people in Victoria more aware of the treaty process. It also “punctured some of the assumptions had about the goodwill in the broader community towards Aboriginal people”.
The depth of that goodwill will be tested further when the Victorian government sits down to treaty with its First Peoples. The No campaign attack lines about the Voice being an elite indulgence will require only a modest tweak to be redeployed against treaty.
Back at Dardi Munworro,Thorpe says the days since the referendum have felt like a time for grieving. “It has created some confusion and trust issues,some people feel betrayed. I am sure it will take a while to repair.” Yet,for all genuine hurt within his community,Thorpe remains optimistic. He says the referendum,although it failed,also showed how deeply committed many Australians are to improving the lot of Aboriginal people.
It has also confirmed to him the way forward. “Treaty for me is the answer,” he says. “It is the thing we have been crying out for,for a long time.”
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