Read an excerpt from On the Voice to Parliament

Start reading On the Voice to Parliament, an essay on what a 'yes' vote in the Voice to Parliament referendum will mean and why it is so important for our nation.

I am one Australian out of many. I’m proud to say I’m a First Nations Australian. I am a Nyikina man. My dad is Nyikina, so in our ways, I am Nyikina. My hometown is Derby in the Kimberley in Western Australia, which is surrounded by Nyikina country. My mum is Bardi and her Country (from Grandad) is about 150 kilometres away. Mum has blue coastal waters. Dad has muddy river/estuarine waters.

From Derby, the nearest town, Broome, is 220 kilometres away, on Yawuru Country. When I was growing up, a trip to Broome was a big adventure. As we got closer to Broome, the first sign we were arriving was seeing the tips of the sand dunes. We’d look out for them once we were about 10 kilometres away. That’s what all the kids looked for. The dunes and the blue ocean were something exciting and different for a kid surrounded by bush and rivers. We were going to see our cousins and see their world – their Country. We loved it.

These days, to get home to Derby, I fly into Broome from Sydney. I still get excited by those blue waters, the dunes and the pindan, the red soil. Then another mini adventure awaits me when I get off the plane and do the 220-kilometre drive home. I am grateful to live on Gadigal land in Sydney, but I’m a proud Nyikina man with Bardi blood and Derby is always my home.

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A book about the Voice to Parliament, ‘the Voice’. The publisher says make it accessible so everybody can read it. It’s for whoever wants to hear from an Aboriginal person about what they think of the Voice. 

Who am I to speak about this? This is a national issue, an important issue, a complex issue. This Voice to Parliament is nationally important. Yes, it is about a minority of Australians. We’re only 3 per cent of the Australian population according to Census data. And we’re asking for the majority of Australians to support us.

This is no easy task. This is an issue of trust. Of hope. Of justice.

After decades of advocacy from First Nations leaders, our Prime Minister has put this on the national agenda. It is an issue of nationhood and the Prime Minister is asking us to have a conversation that is important for our future. That’s their job. Guide us forward.

Keep the country safe, don’t muck it up. Keep us happy. Look after the place. Look after the people. We’re only here for a short time. There are generations to come yet. We’re all just passers-by in the big scheme of things. According to God, you have one life and you’d better use it wisely.

When people came from what some call ‘the Mother Country’, they talked to us about ‘God’, that God is in the stars, in the rocks; God is everywhere. We had the Dreaming before these people came. The Dreaming has guided Aboriginal people for over sixty thousand years, and maybe God is the Dreaming.

I could never comprehend much of this. My mum says Father Lorenz dreaded teaching me in scripture classes because I asked so many questions about God and where all the fish came from at that big party and how Jesus could possibly walk on water. But for many of us blackfellas, we seem to have reconciled God and the Dreaming.

Our Dreaming tells us our history in story form, and from those stories come lessons. From lessons come learning and learning helps us survive – to look after ourselves and to look after Country. Otherwise, there is no future. There will be no land, water, plants, and animals if we don’t look after the place. If we don’t look after the place there will be no kids to be born.

That might seem simplistic. I know a lot of us will be around in a year; in two years; probably even twenty. And we’ll have kids. But it’s getting harder to guarantee a safe environment – let alone one that is healthy and rich in biodiversity. Too many things lost. Too many animals lost. Too much fire. Too much rain.

It’s a lot to contemplate. And maybe I’m not the person to talk about such things. However we must all talk about them. Just like we must talk about this Voice to Parliament. Because this is a conversation for the whole country – for all of us.

Hear more from Charles Prouse on the Voice to Parliament HERE.