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Speaker 1: Already and this is the dailias.

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Speaker 2: Oh now it makes sense. Good morning and welcome to

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Speaker 2: the Daily Ours. It's Monday, the fourteenth of October.

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Speaker 3: I'm Harry, I'm Sam.

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Speaker 2: A year ago, Australia voted no to the Voice to Parliament.

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Speaker 2: The referendum asked whether Australia wanted to add an advisory

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Speaker 2: body to the Constitution made up of First Nations people

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Speaker 2: who would have a say on laws and policies that

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Speaker 2: would affect their lives. It was the first of three

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Speaker 2: stages spelled out in the ULARU Statement from the Heart

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Speaker 2: that called for voice, treaty and truth. Today I spoke

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Speaker 2: with Professor Meaghan Davis, a Cobblekobble woman, constitutional law expert,

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Speaker 2: campaigner for the Voice and the first person to read

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Speaker 2: aloud the ULLARU Statement from the Heart. You'll hear her

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Speaker 2: reflections on the referendum, what's happened in the year since,

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Speaker 2: and what she hopes the future. But on Sam, what's

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Speaker 2: making headlines.

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Speaker 3: There's been bipartisan condemnation of a neo Nazi gathering in

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Speaker 3: the New South Wales town of Kerua, close to the

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Speaker 3: New South Wales Victoria border. Premiers of both states said

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Speaker 3: they were investigating the origins of the roughly fifty men

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Speaker 3: dressed in all black and many covering their faces, who

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Speaker 3: gathered in front of the town's war memorial and posed

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Speaker 3: in front of a sign that read white Man Fight Back.

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Speaker 3: Kerrawa's federal member Susan Lee said the coalition fully supported

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Speaker 3: quote whatever action is necessary from state and federal law enforcement,

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Speaker 3: as well as the state and federal labor governments to

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Speaker 3: quote dismantle this organization. Lee called on the New South

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Speaker 3: Wales government to follow the Victorian government in banning the

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Speaker 3: Nazi salute and related symbols, and warns leaders of other

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Speaker 3: rural communities to watch for signs their towns were being

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Speaker 3: targeted by the neo Nazi groups.

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Speaker 2: Health has issued a public health warning amid increasing rates

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Speaker 2: of gastro enter writers or gastro. In a week, New

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Speaker 2: South Wales emergency departments received more than two seven hundred

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Speaker 2: patients experiencing gastro symptoms, with patients under the age of

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Speaker 2: five particularly impacted. Director here At Glasgow said the spread

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Speaker 2: of gastro needs to slow down before the school holidays

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Speaker 2: come to a close. Glasgow has urged patients to keep

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Speaker 2: their children at home if they display symptoms.

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Speaker 3: King Charles has written that quote whether Australia becomes a

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Speaker 3: republic is a matter for the Australian public to decide,

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Speaker 3: in a reply to a request for a meeting by

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Speaker 3: the Australian Republican Movement ahead of his trip to Australia

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Speaker 3: next week. King Charles and Queen Camilla are set to

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Speaker 3: attend events in Sydney and Canberra, in only his second

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Speaker 3: overseas trips since being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.

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Speaker 3: The Republican Movement said quote, While we respect the role

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Speaker 3: the Royals have played in the nation to date, time

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Speaker 3: for Australia to elect a local to serve as our

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Speaker 3: head of state, someone who can work for Australia full time.

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Speaker 3: Australia voted to remain in the British monarchy in a

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Speaker 3: nineteen ninety nine referendum.

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Speaker 2: And Today's good News. Scientists from the University of Melbourne

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Speaker 2: and University of Cambridge have discovered an environmentally friendly alternative

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Speaker 2: to glitter. The glitter we commonly used is made up

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Speaker 2: of microplastics and creates harmful environmental impacts. Research published in

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Speaker 2: the journal Chemosphere has uncovered a cellulose nanocrystalline glitter. Scientists

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Speaker 2: collected a variety of soil samples to assess the impacts

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Speaker 2: of cellulose based glitters and sequence on the Earth. This

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Speaker 2: non toxic material was found safe for soil and can

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Speaker 2: be used as a bidegradable alternative to regular glitter.

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Speaker 3: Harry, really nice to be on the podcast with you

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Speaker 3: this morning, Gonwail Sam, Yeah, and I can't believe it's

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Speaker 3: been one year since the Voice to Parliament referendum. We

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Speaker 3: really did a lot of work in the lead up

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Speaker 3: to that referendum trying to break down the issues. We

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Speaker 3: had a five part video explainer, we had a dedicated podcast.

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Speaker 3: It doesn't feel in some ways like it was that

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Speaker 3: long ago that we were having this national conversation. I

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Speaker 3: also remember that night and the feeling of that night

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Speaker 3: where a decision was reached so quickly on the broadcast

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Speaker 3: and we almost had this sense that this long count

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Speaker 3: had been brought short. Can you remind everybody what the

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Speaker 3: Voice to Parliament was?

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Speaker 2: So the voice itself goes back to a call to

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Speaker 2: action that was set out in the twenty seventeen ULARU

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Speaker 2: Statement from the Heart. It was signed by nearly two

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty First Nations leaders after years of what

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Speaker 2: was called the Ularu Dialogues, which were regional, local and

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Speaker 2: community focused talks between First people's across Australia. So the

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Speaker 2: Voice was meant to be a way of formally recognizing

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Speaker 2: First Nations people in the Constitution and in practical terms,

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Speaker 2: it would be an advisory body made up of First

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Speaker 2: Nations people that would have a say on the laws

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Speaker 2: and policies that impact their lives. And since it involved

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Speaker 2: changing the constitution, the whole country had to vote on it,

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Speaker 2: and a year ago Australia went to the polls. We

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Speaker 2: all went to the polls and it was defeated. Sixty

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Speaker 2: percent of the country said no and around forty percent

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Speaker 2: said yes. And you're right. It only took ninety minutes

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Speaker 2: after the polls closed for those results to be conclusive.

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Speaker 3: What I find really interesting about what we're talking about

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Speaker 3: today is that referendum happened twelve months ago. The Ularus

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Speaker 3: Statement is still there, It's still an important document in Australia.

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Speaker 3: There are still people working on improving the rights conditions

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Speaker 3: legislation around First Nations Australians. Has there been much change

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Speaker 3: or movement on the actual Ularu statement since the.

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Speaker 2: Voice, so the Uluru Statement, and it was a combination

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Speaker 2: of years of dialogue and the actual statement itself still

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Speaker 2: stands and First Nations people are actively looking at developing

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Speaker 2: the Ulurus Statement and having Australians walk with them in

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Speaker 2: this journey. And the Voice was the first of the

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Speaker 2: three stages set out by the Ularus Statement from the Heart,

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Speaker 2: and the next two were truth, telling and treaty. And

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Speaker 2: on the night that he won the election, Anthony Alberzi

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Speaker 2: said he was fully committed to implementing the statement from

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Speaker 2: the heart, so you could interpret that to be that

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Speaker 2: he was promising all three stages of the Uluru's Statement.

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Speaker 4: So that's Voice, truth and treaty right, And we were

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Speaker 4: doing a referendum just on that first bit, exactly the

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Speaker 4: very first stage. But after the referendum failed to get up,

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Speaker 4: he hasn't been so clear on whether he'll go through

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Speaker 4: the other two stages and he recently said that it

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Speaker 4: wasn't an option that's currently on the table. And that's

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Speaker 4: why I wanted to speak to Professor Meghan Davis because

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Speaker 4: she's a very esteemed constitutional lawyer. She campaigned in favor

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Speaker 4: of the Voice, and she was actually the first person

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Speaker 4: to read out the ULARU Statement from the Heart in

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Speaker 4: twenty seventeen. We spoke about what's been going on since

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Speaker 4: the referendum and what direction she believes the country is

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Speaker 4: now going in. Professor Meghan Davis, thank you so much

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Speaker 4: for joining the Daily Ours.

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Speaker 5: Hi, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 2: So it's exactly one year since the referendum to start off,

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Speaker 2: how do you reflect on that period, the lead up

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Speaker 2: with the campaign and the vote itself.

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Speaker 1: Oh, look, you know, it's a bit of a blur.

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Speaker 1: I think for most people who were involved.

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Speaker 5: It certainly was for me. I mean, I think in

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Speaker 5: the lead up.

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Speaker 1: To the actual vote and the day there was a

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Speaker 1: lot of kind of hope and expectation, anticipation. People didn't

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Speaker 1: really know what to think, and of course the polls

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Speaker 1: weren't you know, at the end, didn't look positive. You know,

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Speaker 1: I think most of our people have really been grieving

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Speaker 1: the result over the past year. I think people were

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Speaker 1: devastated that night. People were devastated. I just can remember,

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Speaker 1: you know, within an hour, the overwhelming no and just

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Speaker 1: the wailing and the sobbing of our particular Ulary Dialogue

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Speaker 1: campaign room.

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Speaker 4: It was.

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Speaker 1: It was really devastating and still is to this day.

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Speaker 1: But on the flip side, something that people used to

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Speaker 1: say to me in the kind of darkest hours in

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Speaker 1: the weeks after that we'd all forgotten was that there

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Speaker 1: was six point two Aussies that voted yes, and that

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Speaker 1: you know, made a really huge difference actually to everyone

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Speaker 1: in the team and other mob right across the country

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Speaker 1: just getting out of bed and getting moving again, that

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Speaker 1: there was a really cool group of Aussies who stood

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Speaker 1: with us and understood what we were seeking to do

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Speaker 1: and accepted the invitation of the Ullary.

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Speaker 5: Statement from the Heart.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it is a massive loss opportunity, Harry, Like

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Speaker 1: you know, when you look back on it, and I've

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Speaker 1: been reading some reflections of lots of other mobs about

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Speaker 1: the campaign and the day and what it means.

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Speaker 5: It was a huge lost opportunity for the nation.

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Speaker 2: The idea from the voice, which you've already mentioned, was

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Speaker 2: the Ulary Statement from the Heart. Now this had three requests,

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Speaker 2: the first being the voice and then the two other

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Speaker 2: requests to follow after a successful voice. Now that the

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Speaker 2: first of those three steps has fallen over, will you

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Speaker 2: still move forward with the other steps even if the

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Speaker 2: order has changed.

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Speaker 1: And that's a difficult answer to give because that's not

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Speaker 1: how politics works.

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Speaker 5: Right, And the Ulary statement isn't a kind of statement.

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Speaker 1: It's not like, hey, he's an ala carte menu and

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Speaker 1: this one's off the table now, so I have the

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Speaker 1: next one.

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Speaker 5: I mean, so voice.

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Speaker 1: Doesn't fall away, that doesn't disappear just because of the

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Speaker 1: No vote last year. Also, the broader framework of the

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Speaker 1: Allary Statement from the heart stands it was a new

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Speaker 1: and innovative approach of First Nations peoples not to hand

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Speaker 1: a petition to the Australian politicians, but to the Australian

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Speaker 1: people to convince them and persuade them of the exigency

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Speaker 1: of reform. And so I think it's really difficult to

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Speaker 1: talk about the Allary Statement when the media is not

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Speaker 1: taking seriously the role that misinformation played in the campaign.

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Speaker 1: If you look at the research post the vote, including

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Speaker 1: Essentral research that has been recently published, the majority of

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Speaker 1: Australians don't know about the Lary Statement from the heart.

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Speaker 2: I'm interested in your reflections on the political debate at

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Speaker 2: the moment because there's been a lot of questions put

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Speaker 2: forward to the Prime Minister about whether he intends to

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Speaker 2: follow through with the Macarata Commission for Truth Telling and Treaty.

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Speaker 2: What are your reflections on those kinds of discussions.

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Speaker 1: Well, politics can, but I think the lesson of the

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Speaker 1: campaign is that you can't get change if you're going

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Speaker 1: to go old school politics and expect politicians to get

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Speaker 1: you to a yes. You know, it needs to be

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Speaker 1: a proper people's movement. And if you don't have a

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Speaker 1: people's movement, which is what the Ullary statement was talking

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Speaker 1: to and it asked Australians to walk with them, I

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Speaker 1: think intuitively, our people at the Rock knew that if

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Speaker 1: it was just a traditional left versus right adversarial tussle

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Speaker 1: between the l and P and Labor, it would end

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Speaker 1: up exactly the way it ended up. So I think

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Speaker 1: that's an important point on the Prime Minister. You know,

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Speaker 1: the Ullary dial aguipmen contacted since the referendum, so you know,

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Speaker 1: we see what everybody else sees in the media. I

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Speaker 1: think an important issue that has been raised by some journalists,

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Speaker 1: which is great and a lot of mob is that

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Speaker 1: the Macarator Commission was an election promise. It went through

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Speaker 1: the Labor policy convention, it was a part of the platform,

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Speaker 1: it was costed and so you know that is a

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Speaker 1: broken promise, or maybe a broken promise subject to what

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Speaker 1: happens after the election. That will be you know, for

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Speaker 1: the Australian people to judge.

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Speaker 5: But I mean it was a policy in the years since.

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Speaker 2: How would you characterize progress on First Nations issues in Australia?

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Speaker 2: Are there things that you're encouraged by or are there

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Speaker 2: things you're really concerned about.

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Speaker 1: So we started off the year with the Productivity Commission Report,

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Speaker 1: which is pretty scathing of the way in which closing

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Speaker 1: the gap is rolling out, the lack of cooperation from

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Speaker 1: states and territories, but in particular the struggle that our

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Speaker 1: people are having with the national bureaucracy in delivering on

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Speaker 1: the things that our people have to deliver on to

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Speaker 1: close the gap. And so one of the big key

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Speaker 1: aspects of that Productivity Commission report was the fact that

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Speaker 1: there's no federal voice, there's no legitimate voice that actually

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Speaker 1: speaks in an authority way on behalf of communities that's

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Speaker 1: guiding this work. And so that was really an important report,

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Speaker 1: a difficult report also to read.

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Speaker 5: Only a few months after the No vote.

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Speaker 1: But since then we've seen similarly closing the gap, reports

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Speaker 1: come out showing next.

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Speaker 5: To no change.

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Speaker 1: You know, things are in a very difficult space. I

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Speaker 1: don't talk on behalf of all people. I know there's

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Speaker 1: many mob involved in business and indigenous procurement and other areas.

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Speaker 1: But the work that I do is aimed at improving

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Speaker 1: the lives of people who you know, might live in

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Speaker 1: situations where structurally they need change to make a difference

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Speaker 1: in their lives. I'm also you're an expert and international

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Speaker 1: lawyer who's worked on self determination. I helped draft the

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Speaker 1: Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, so a big

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Speaker 1: part of my work is oriented to how you get

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Speaker 1: self determination for our people in our communities. I think

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Speaker 1: the Oillary Statement and the Voice still remain as exit

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Speaker 1: and relevant today as they were in twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 2: There will be an election sometime in the next seven

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Speaker 2: months for the federal Parliament. What would a change of

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Speaker 2: government at that level mean for the Ulary Statement.

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Speaker 1: A key point, Harry here on this adversary day is

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Speaker 1: our job post referendum has been to engage with the

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Speaker 1: six point two That's a massive game changer because those

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Speaker 1: people not just become advocates, but they walk alongside us.

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Speaker 1: And that's very different to a reconciliation framework. It's very

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Speaker 1: different to what's come before. And those six point two

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Speaker 1: Australians live up in one hundred and fifty one electors

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Speaker 1: and they all vote, and they've all got family. You know,

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Speaker 1: we've got work to do to start yearning with Aussi's

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Speaker 1: voted no and other Aussies. We are taking a different

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Speaker 1: approach to achieving change, and that is you know, working

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Speaker 1: with other assies quietly and now talking about what happened

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Speaker 1: with the referendum, what we were trying to achieve, walking

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Speaker 1: through the misinformation and all of those conversations that need

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Speaker 1: to be had. And as I said, the enthusiasm of

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Speaker 1: the six point two has been so overwhelming. It's really

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Speaker 1: just been so gratifying and generous, and it's really helped

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Speaker 1: our people get through a very very difficult year. And

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Speaker 1: so that's still political work. You know, we are all

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Speaker 1: political people with agency, all Australian citizens, and so that

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Speaker 1: work in all of those federal elections will continue and

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Speaker 1: hopefully in time will lead to lead to some change.

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Speaker 2: As a final thought, what is your hope for the

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Speaker 2: future of First Nations people in Australia.

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Speaker 1: Look, I mean, I think I've many hopes for our people.

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Speaker 1: I think for me, I am a constitutional so that's

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Speaker 1: the way I think. But I think nothing changes, And

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Speaker 1: I appreciate it's because I've studied constitutions for twenty years.

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Speaker 5: But they really make it difference to people's lives.

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Speaker 1: And I know that Australians often can't see that, but

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Speaker 1: they do provide the material conditions for a dignified human life,

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Speaker 1: and that has happened for most Australians in Australia. A

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Speaker 1: lot of our structures, our rule of law, flow as

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Speaker 1: a consequence of that constitution. But there was one group

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Speaker 1: excluded from that in ninety oh one, and that was

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Speaker 1: our people. And it was semi corrected in nineteen sixty seven,

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Speaker 1: but not fully. It allowed the Federal Parliament power to

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Speaker 1: make laws for people of any race and then they

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Speaker 1: allowed us to be included in that. But it doesn't

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Speaker 1: empower our people. And that's what structural change means. It's

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Speaker 1: providing us with something that allows us to make a

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Speaker 1: difference to our lives. And the voice, as the option

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Speaker 1: that went last year, was about compelling the state to

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Speaker 1: listen to us. So what we said couldn't bind the

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Speaker 1: parliament because nothing can buy in the parliament. Not even

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Speaker 1: a treaty will buy into parliament. Nothing can in Australians

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Speaker 1: legal and political system. But it would have at least

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Speaker 1: allowed us to table our views about particular things, and

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Speaker 1: you know, the media being the media would have reported

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Speaker 1: on that. But at least Australians would start to get

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Speaker 1: used to the views that we have on things, as

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Speaker 1: opposed to politicians who seem to talk on our behalf

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Speaker 1: all the time.

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Speaker 5: So my hope is that we still march forward.

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Speaker 1: Constitutional recognition is still important now. Our people have always

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Speaker 1: said we don't want symbolic recognition, we don't want tokenistic recognition.

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Speaker 1: We want recognition that's going to make a difference to

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Speaker 1: our people's lives. And the research shows Australians agree with that.

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Speaker 1: So I'm not you know, I think at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day, intuitively, you know, up until a couple

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Speaker 1: of months before the referendum, Ozzie's intuitively got what the

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Speaker 1: voice was about as a kind of pretty fair thing

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Speaker 1: that if it's a piece of legislation on Aboriginal people,

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Speaker 1: we should have some input well, not me, but people

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Speaker 1: chosen by the communities to represent them, and so who

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Speaker 1: knows what goes forth. But I don't think that constitutional

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Speaker 1: recognition can be off the table for a country like Australia.

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Speaker 1: We will find our way back to there because constitutions matter,

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Speaker 1: and I don't think we talk about that a lot

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Speaker 1: in this country. I don't think constitutional literacy is particularly

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Speaker 1: high because we don't do civics very well. But it's important,

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Speaker 1: and it's important not just for us, it's important for

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Speaker 1: all Australians, but it is important for our young people

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Speaker 1: to see themselves recognized by the people, by the nation.

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Speaker 5: And so I don't think that.

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Speaker 1: Stops because of last year's referendum. No one's saying that

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Speaker 1: to four year terms all the republic.

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Speaker 2: And maybe just as a final verification, is it true

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Speaker 2: that you had a copy, a little copy of the

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Speaker 2: Constitution when you were a little bit younger and carried

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Speaker 2: around with you.

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Speaker 1: I did have one when I was younger, and I

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Speaker 1: think the Australian Story like found me a copy of

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Speaker 1: the one that I actually had as a kid. I

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Speaker 1: think my little sister sent to Australian Story that I

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Speaker 1: carried it around like a nerd, but she was making

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Speaker 1: trouble trying to embarrass me on a national scale.

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Speaker 5: But I mean I did. I mean I was sick one.

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Speaker 1: Day and my mum spent most of her money on

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Speaker 1: second hand books, and we used to like love secondhand

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Speaker 1: bookshops and that's where she found a particular book. It

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Speaker 1: had a copy of the Constitution in it, and I

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Speaker 1: was I was really mesmerized. I think partly because I

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Speaker 1: loved Australian politics. We were really poor, you know, we

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Speaker 1: lived in a Housing Commission home. We were underclass, and

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Speaker 1: my mum was always like, you know, Australian politics is

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Speaker 1: what dictates our lives from election to election. And then

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Speaker 1: I got to University Queensland and studied my first political

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Speaker 1: theories subject. I hated it. I never took the subject again.

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Speaker 1: So I think studying it just took the joy out

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Speaker 1: of it for me.

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Speaker 2: But well, we never know, Professor Meghan Davis. There might

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Speaker 2: be more little kids out there carrying around to Constitution

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Speaker 2: in the future.

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Speaker 1: I hope so, because as I keep saying, all the

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Speaker 1: all our youth institutions built to change, we can't be

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Speaker 1: intimidated by it.

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Speaker 5: All the Australian people.

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Speaker 1: We've got a bit of work to do on politicians.

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Speaker 5: But I think it is built to change.

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Speaker 1: The drafters wanted it to change with the times, and

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Speaker 1: I just think as a nation, we've just got to

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Speaker 1: get better at how we do that.

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Speaker 2: Professor Meghan Davis, thank you so much for joining the

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Speaker 2: Daily Ohs, thank you for having me. Thank you so

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Speaker 2: much for joining us at the Daily Os. If you

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Speaker 2: want to read more about the years since the Voice,

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Speaker 2: we covered it in our weekend newsletter and we'll add

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Speaker 2: a link to the show notes. Please tell us what

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Speaker 2: you think in the comments on Spotify. We love hearing

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Speaker 2: what you have to say. We'll speak to you again

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Speaker 2: tomorrow and until then, have a great day.

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Speaker 1: My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Adunda

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Speaker 1: Bungelung Caalcuttin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily Os acknowledges

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

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Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.