Bid for constitutionally-enshrined indigenous voice well timed?

The second anniversary of the summit in central Australia of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders falls in an election year, a potential boost in their quest for a constitutionally-enshrined indigenous voice. The opposition Labor Party, at least, appears to be listening.

The summit at Uluru, previously known as Ayers Rock, marked the 50th anniversary of the first referendum on Aboriginal rights. That vote removed language in the constitution deemed derogatory. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were given equal voting rights in 1983.

The Uluru summit voted to set up a Makarrata Commission to supervise agreements between indigenous groups and the government, as well as a truth and justice commission that would operate at the same time. "In 1967 we were counted; in 2017 we seek to be heard," said the summit declaration.

Britain’s Guardian reports that Labor leader Bill Shorten said in Feb 2018 that Labor will begin work on legislating an indigenous voice in parliament without government support, saying that bipartisanship on issues of constitutional change "cannot mean agreement to do nothing." He added that the goals outlined at Uluru, rejected as "not desirable" by then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2017, were a necessary part of achieving the self-determination and indigenous leadership necessary to achieve Closing the Gap targets. Shorten has promised to call for a constitutional referendum to give a greater voice to First Australians if he is elected prime minister in May.

The targets refer to a government strategy that aims to reduce disadvantages among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with respect to life expectancy, child mortality, access to early childhood education, educational achievement and employment outcomes.

Some of the delay in arriving at any kind of settlement between the government and indigenous Australians has been deciding on its overall goals. The debate can’t avoid revisiting the question of appropriate restitution for indigenous communities driven off their traditional lands by settlers, and then subjected to the government’s Aboriginal assimilation policies. It must also take in the mainly dire conditions in today’s Aboriginal communities.

In the 21st Century, Aboriginal squalor is among Australia’s "dirtiest secrets," according to film-maker John Pilger. An Australian, he describes the poverty of Aboriginal communities in his film Utopia as "an enduring shock."