quarterly essay the voice

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Quarterly Essay 90: Voice of Reason – On Recognition and Renewal, by Megan Davis: Book Note

Update 11 July 2023: Professor Davis with Professor Mark Kenny of the ANU on an Australia Institute Webinar .

Update 26 June 2023: Professor Davis on Australian Story on the ABC, including transcript .

Professor Megan Davis is Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous and Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of New South Wales, has a long history dealing with Indigenous issues in Australia and overseas, and is at present Co-Chair, with Pat Anderson AO, of the Uluru Dialogue . She is a Cobble Cobble woman of the Barunggam Nation. She was the first person to read out the Uluru Statement from the Heart at Uluru in 2017.

Professor Davis reminds us of the many false starts that have preceded the Voice – seven public processes since 2011 alone, even without going back to the 2007 Northern Territory Emergency Response, the 1988 Barunga Statement, the 1967 referendum, the 1963 Yirrkala bark petitions, the 1938 protest or, for that matter, to 1788. She notes a couple of persistent threads in that history – the trimming and electoral self-interest of politicians and their unwillingness to properly listen to the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. On the First Nations side, there has been a ‘trajectory of powerlessness and voicelessness’.

So, the Voice seeks to engage Australians on a level that is above politics. The Uluru Statement, the starting point of the Voice, ‘is a beginning. It is about recognition, and it is about renewal. It is a hand of friendship extended to the Australian people, an invitation to come and meet with us [First Nations people].’

Professor Davis writes about child protection, one of her close interests and areas where she has worked and reported to government, about the Indigenous Advancement Strategy of the Abbott government, and about Closing the Gap. She paraphrases Noel Pearson: ‘too often policy is dictated by people who are disconnected from what the community needs, but who think they know best’.

With all this past history, Professor Davis says, constitutional recognition ‘belongs to that overarching category, the “unfinished business” of the nation’. She uses a telling quote from Bret Walker SC in 2011:

The basis of settlement of Australia is and always has been, ultimately, the exertion of force by and on behalf of the British arrivals. They did not ask permission to settle. No-one consented, no-one ceded. Sovereignty was not passed from the aboriginal peoples to the settlers by any actions of legal significance voluntarily taken by or on behalf of the former of any of them.

That taking by force is the strong theme also of Rachel Perkins’s documentary, The Australian Wars . Buttressing the ‘Yes’ side, and countering the nonsense spouted by some on the ‘No’ side, is that simple point: we (whitefellers) pinched their Country. And, as time passed, First Nations numbers ‘dwindled because of the frontier wars, indiscriminate killings and exposure to European diseases’ and ‘we were recognised as vulnerable and “doomed” in the many “protection” acts legislated by states and territories that curbed our freedoms and subjugated us’.

So, what’s next? Professor Davis discusses reconciliation, whose twin pillars are truth and justice. ‘ “Truth” is about history, a better official account of what happened, and “justice” is the change required for “repair” to occur.’ Reconciliation has had a chequered history in the last few decades in Australia, with a ‘thin commitment’ by the state. The Uluru Statement ‘recalibrated the skewed reconciliation process … and brought truth and justice back to the table’.

At the heart of the problems with the reconciliation project was ‘the failure of just-minded people to hear well – from those who have suffered – what recovery or reconciliation after massive violence or longstanding injustice would require’. Enshrining the Voice in the Constitution will make it more difficult for the hard of hearing – just-minded or not – to dicker and dissemble and divert as has happened in the past. That is a large part of the ‘Why’ of the Voice.

Finally, the essay traverses the intense and complex ‘bottom-up’ consultation – twelve regional dialogues and a national convention – that produced the Uluru Statement of 2017. The success of the post-Voice environment, too, will depend on how well it represents the views of communities across the nation.

Uluru is not about identity politics. It is about location. We are located on this land together. We coexist. The Voice to Parliament is not just about the parliament and the executive. The parliament and the executive are representatives of the people . It is a Voice to the People. It is a dialogue for time immemorial between the First Nations and the Australian people.

David Stephens

23 June 2023 updated

David Stephens is editor of the Honest History website, has been convener of Heritage Guardians (opposed to the $550m redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial), and is a member of Defending Country Memorial Project Inc., which has the primary objective of ensuring that the Australian War Memorial properly recognises and commemorates the Australian Frontier Wars.

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New Australia v old Australia: a yes vote on the voice is a vote for the future

The referendum’s success will be a monumental achievement but to arrive there we must explain to the country why the voice is needed

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C hanging the constitution is a mammoth task. During the regional dialogues for the Uluru statement from the heart , I would recite the record with some trepidation: only eight out of 44 referendums have been successful since 1901. The old people would chortle knowingly, for they remembered the 1967 referendum, when Australians voted yes to the federal power to make laws for Aboriginal people.

They had either been active in the campaign themselves or watched their parents campaign. They were not deterred by the record. They would proudly declare they had received the highest yes vote in the history of Australian referendums. They were earnest in their faith in the fundamental decency of the Australian people. The 2023 referendum campaign will determine whether that faith is misplaced or not.

The story so far seems to suggest that Noel Pearson ’s theory – that Aboriginal people are the “most unloved people” – belongs to an old Australia. This ghost of Australia past is sustained by a cashed-up no campaign, reliant on the economic and social might of the conservative silent generation and baby boomers, with in-kind support from some media. Conservatives are busy carving out a convenient narrative for themselves that there is a reasoned and respectable case for no; there isn’t.

As the journalist Niki Savva wrote: “While it is not true to say that every Australian who votes no in the voice referendum is a racist, you can bet your bottom dollar that every racist will vote no.” The cumulative wealth and power of the rusted-on no voters, their prominence in media ownership and on corporate boards, their conservatism and their unwillingness to commit to social change should be juxtaposed with the ascendant, vibrant, new Australia, one that believes in social change and inclusion.

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New Australia appears to form the rump of the consistent majority yes polling over the past six years. It includes gen Z and millennials, our multicultural brothers and sisters from the Middle East, north Africa and south Asia, and followers of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and the Greek Orthodox and Catholic faiths. It involves people with low incomes who live in the working-class areas that are the heavy lifters of multiculturalism and social cohesion in this nation.

The last election saw the consolidation of this new Australia. Australians voted in droves for the Greens and for teal independents in previously safe Liberal seats. This demonstrated a groundswell of sentiment for action on federal corruption, climate change and the Uluru statement from the heart. This movement of the Australian people was missed by the Canberra commentariat.

On the Uluru statement from the heart and a constitutional voice to parliament, Australians could see an unconventional yet compelling invitation to address one of the most acute challenges for Indigenous Australia: getting the government to listen . Persuading the nation of the exigency of change draws on Australians’ observation that the status quo for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is not working, and their own experience of bureaucracy as mean-spirited and punitive, as hundreds of thousands of Australians experienced first-hand with the robodebt scheme.

Australians have low levels of trust in their politicians, seeing them as too absorbed by adversarial parliamentary politics, internal leadership quarrels and internecine preselection spats. Seminal to this is the failure of Canberra to hear Australians in times of need. The spectre of a prime minister, Scott Morrison, abandoning his people in their darkest hour, amid fire and flood. Together, we have been let down as a people. This is a unifying sentiment.

The invitation issued to the Australian people is also shadowed by the three-decades-long reconciliation process that began after Bob Hawke reneged on his commitment to a treaty at Barunga in 1988. Instead of a treaty – because a Western Australian election was looming and the electoral calculus of Aboriginal recognition and mining interests did not mesh – Hawke’s cabinet decided a reconciliation process was needed first.

Reconciliation was the fad of the 90s. Developed in Latin American countries and in South Africa, it purported to bring societies back together after serious conflict or dictatorship, in a process known today as transitional justice. It theorised a pathway for perpetrators and victims to reconcile and live together in peace under the rule of law. Transitional justice has failed many of the countries that deployed it (and there are many , given it has the United Nations’ stamp of approval). In the dialogues, our old people kept saying, without prompting, that reconciliation was the wrong word. They said it implied the restoration of friendly relations after a conflict, but, they said, we have never met.

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This is what the Uluru statement stands for. It is a beginning. It is about recognition and it is about renewal. It is a hand of friendship extended to the Australian people, an invitation to come and meet with us. In issuing the statement to all Australians, the First Nations hope to bypass the ritual cynicism of Australian retail politics and ask Australians of all religions, cultures and political persuasions to read the Uluru statement and hear, in our own words, the logic for change:

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. We call for the establishment of a First Nations voice enshrined in the constitution.

We hoped Australians would listen. And they were listening. They are still listening. Thus, we have a commitment to a referendum, a clear roadmap of reform, a 12-year recognition process debated by successive governments and parliaments, an alteration to the text and a ballot question. For this referendum to succeed will be a monumental achievement of this nation. But we are not there yet. To arrive at our destination, we need to explain to Australians why the voice is needed. Indigenous policy issues are alien to most and the loudest voices on the subject are often the politicians who were most ineffective in this policy area.

To begin that work, I want to share a famous Northern Territory story that Pat Anderson told 21 years ago at the National Press Club.

It’s about an old man from the Top End. He’s passed away now, but this is what happened to him. He was living quietly on an outstation near Kakadu. One day, some government workers drove up in a four-wheel-drive while the old man was sitting out the front of his tin shed. He got up and introduced himself and showed them around a bit.

As they were leaving, they asked him if there was anything he needed.

“Oh yeah,” he said, “if you’re coming back out this way, you could bring me a couple of packets of tomato seeds. I’d like to try to grow a few tomatoes here for myself.”

Well, the government workers went back to town and told their boss about the old man who wanted to grow tomatoes on his outstation. And their boss told her boss and so on.

After a while, all these people start arriving at the old man’s outstation. Geologists come and take soil and rock samples. Meteorologists arrive with all sorts of gadgets to measure wind speed and rainfall. Ecologists set up camp to study the ecosystem and do environmental impact studies. Agronomists arrive to do feasibility studies on market gardens in the tropics.

All the while, the old man sits in front of his tin shed, watching this very entertaining activity. Eventually, after several months, one of the scientists comes up to him and asks him how he is.

“I’m fine,” says the old man, “but I’m still waiting for those packets of tomato seeds.”

This is an edited extract from the Quarterly Essay Voice of Reason – On Recognition and Renewal by Megan Davis (Black Inc) published this week

• Indigenous voice to parliament
• Uluru statement from the heart
• Australian politics
• Indigenous Australians
• Law (Australia)
• Indigenous recognition

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Quarterly Essay 90: Voice of Reason

• On Recognition and Renewal
• By: Megan Davis
• Narrated by: Megan Davis
• Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins
• 4.2 out of 5 stars 4.2 (41 ratings)

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When the call came it seemed like the answer to my prayers. My career as a voice actor had been over for months and me and my little girl Scarlet were living back at my mum’s place. I felt like a failure professionally—and with Scarlet having problems at school, as a parent as well. So, when I was asked to narrate a new book by disappeared novelist Philippa Roberts I jumped at the chance, even if it meant leaving Scarlet with my ex, Hugo, for a few weeks. Hugo, with his perfect new home and his perfect new girlfriend Saskia. But this isn’t a dream come true. It’s a nightmare.

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Publisher's Summary

At Uluru, an invitation was issued to the Australian people. With the upcoming referendum, the nation will decide whether to accept that invitation.

In this compelling, fresh and imaginative essay, Megan Davis draws out the significance and the promise of this “constitutional moment” – what it could mean for recognition and justice. Davis presents the Voice to Parliament as an Australian solution to an Australian problem.

For Indigenous people, it is a practical response to “the torment of powerlessness”. She highlights the failure of past policies, in areas from child protection to closing the gap, and the urgent need for change. She also brings out the creative and imaginative dimensions of the Voice. Fundamental to her account is the importance of truly listening. In explaining why the Voice is needed from the ground up, she evokes a new vision of Country and community.

Megan Davis is Professor of Constitutional Law at UNSW, a global Indigenous rights expert on the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and a former chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She was the first person to read out the Uluru Statement from the Heart, at Uluru in May 2017.

• Series: Quarterly Essays
• Unabridged Audiobook
• Categories: Politics & Social Sciences

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What listeners say about Quarterly Essay 90: Voice of Reason

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• Overall 5 out of 5 stars
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Rich with insight

This brief look into the Voice is well structured and argued and perfectly narrated. A must listen/read!

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6 people found this helpful

• Anonymous User

Well reasoned explanation

Succinct summary rich with information and background on the referendum the constitution and the voice

1 person found this helpful

Every Australian should listen

Informative listen that provides compelling and rational reasons to support change. I hope Australians listen.

3 people found this helpful

• Overall 4 out of 5 stars
• Performance 3 out of 5 stars
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• Stefan Stübiger

A must “listen” for all Australians

For me this Essay gives insides from which point of view the “Uluṟu Statement of the heart” was written and for which purpose.

2 people found this helpful

• Performance 4 out of 5 stars

Informative and important listening

A valuable resource for all Australians. Megan Davis has provided an informative, well structured essay on the Voice.

All the information that is required. Just Listen.

Unsurprisingly, this was an excellent list. Highly recommended for conservative politicians and media. Beautiful. The truth of this nation's history. The patience of the Indigenous population. The words of an Indigenous Constitutional Lawyer who has been walking this road for decades. The more people that hear/read this essay, the better. Australia is at a crossroads. Accepting the undeserved invitation of The Uluru Statement from the Heart will start us on a path to reconciliation. It will benefit everyone. After listening to this I don't know how anyone couldn't vote YES ✊🏻

5 people found this helpful

I still had my doubts about voting yes & I’m glad I listened to the essay as it has really enlightened me about the history of the fight for Aboriginal rights & recognition.

If you don’t know, listen

Excellent summary of what led to a Uluru statement, and then a referendum for constitutional recognition. If you don’t know, find out and then vote yes! Thank you Megan Davis for once again, patiently, explaining this to us all!

How could you say No?

I would defy any rational, open and fair minded person to say “No” after listening to this beautifully written and thought out piece of work.

7 people found this helpful

Its bigger than you and me

This is a great essay on the constituional change we will be asked to vote on this year. It raises historical political moves by specific and varied political parties and leaders and how that has impacted the indigenous people since the inception of politics in Australia. It also notes the ambiguous wording being put forward for our consideration versus the intended (even if hope) of what the voice of parliment will be and do. Regardless of what your vote is - this will help you understand the lack lustre attempts to 'close the gap' for education and life expectancy as well as representation of communities in our political system. Its a much bigger picture than the "Voice of Parliment", that warrants consideration. I felt that this come over as more 'let me present you with a collection of factors' rather than a 'agressive argument'. Although, closing minutes pulls no punches in savaging the 'NO" campaign. It will likely not change your mind, but rather highlight exactly why constitutional recognition is important as well as the work that, as a nation, we still need to achieve.

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Quarterly Essay 90: Voice of Reason

• On Recognition and Renewal
• By: Megan Davis
• Narrated by: Megan Davis
• Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins

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At Uluru, an invitation was issued to the Australian people. With the upcoming referendum, the nation will decide whether to accept that invitation.

In this compelling, fresh and imaginative essay, Megan Davis draws out the significance and the promise of this “constitutional moment” – what it could mean for recognition and justice. Davis presents the Voice to Parliament as an Australian solution to an Australian problem.

For Indigenous people, it is a practical response to “the torment of powerlessness”. She highlights the failure of past policies, in areas from child protection to closing the gap, and the urgent need for change. She also brings out the creative and imaginative dimensions of the Voice. Fundamental to her account is the importance of truly listening. In explaining why the Voice is needed from the ground up, she evokes a new vision of Country and community.

Megan Davis is Professor of Constitutional Law at UNSW, a global Indigenous rights expert on the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and a former chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She was the first person to read out the Uluru Statement from the Heart, at Uluru in May 2017.

• Series: Quarterly Essays
• Unabridged Audiobook
• Categories: Politics & Social Sciences

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Voice of Reason

On recognition and renewal: quarterly essay #90, megan davis, in stock ready to ship.

• About the Author

Megan Davis is Professor of Constitutional Law at UNSW, a global Indigenous rights expert on the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and a former chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She was the first person to read out the Uluru Statement from the Heart, at Uluru in May 2017.

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