WHAT IS THE VOICE TO PARLIAMENT AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
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* An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament is exactly what the name implies - an advisory body comprised of and chosen by First Nations people to provide advice to the federal government on policies affecting Indigenous people.
* The Labor government has pledged to run a referendum to enshrine a voice to parliament in the Australian Constitution in the 2023/24 financial year.
* The proposal for the voice is the first reform called for in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
* The Statement from the Heart came out of the First Nations National Constitutional Convention, a gathering of Indigenous delegates from around the country who met in Mutitjulu near Uluru in May 2017.
* The convention followed regional dialogues with Indigenous people around the country kickstarted by the Referendum Council, a bipartisan group appointed in 2015 by then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and then-opposition leader Bill Shorten to look at recognising Indigenous people in the constitution.
* The Statement from the Heart is an invitation from Indigenous people to the rest of Australia to walk alongside them for a better future.
* It calls for substantial and meaningful change: a First Nations Voice to Parliament, Makarrata (a Yolngu practice from the Top End meaning coming together after a struggle) and a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making (or treaties) and truth-telling.
* A voice would not have veto power over parliamentary decisions.
* The draft referendum question is: "Do you support an alteration to the constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?"
* Indigenous academics Marcia Langton and Tom Calma presented a voice co-design that included a model for local and regional voices, to feed into a national voice.
* The Referendum Working Group, the Referendum Engagement Group and the Constitutional Expert Group are currently developing more detail.
* Other liberal democracies have mechanisms to inform policy for Indigenous peoples. For example, the Nordic Sami parliaments provide the Indigenous people of Norway, Finland and Sweden a voice on decisions affecting their communities.
Australian Associated Press
