Why the Indigenous Voice is vital in Australia's Constitution: Noel Pearson

Ideas53:59The Boyer Lectures, Pt 1: The story behind Australia’s Voice referendum

Ideas53:59The Boyer Lectures, Pt 2: Australia's struggle with its past

*Update: Australian voters rejected referendum to recognize Indigenous Voice to Parliament.  
 

On Oct. 14, 2023, Australians will vote on whether to alter their constitution, acknowledging the status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the "First Peoples of Australia" and creating a new institution to ensure Parliament takes Indigenous perspectives into account.

The proposed "Voice to Parliament" would bring together delegates from Indigenous communities across the country, debate issues of importance, and issue recommendations to Australian MPs. Unlike an independent advocacy organization (such as Canada's Assembly of First Nations), this representative body would form part of Australia's governing structure, along with Parliament and the courts.

The Voice would not be a legislature — it couldn't make laws or impose taxes.

From early in the "Yes" campaign, Aboriginal Australian scholar Noel Pearson predicted it would be difficult to persuade a majority of Australians to back the proposal.

"For those who wish to oppose our recognition, it will be like shooting fish in a barrel. An inane thing to do but easy. A heartless thing to do but easy," said Pearson, in the opening remarks to his Boyer Lectures, which he gave in November 2022.

"We are a much unloved people," Pearson added at the time. "We are perhaps the ethnic group Australians feel least connected to. We are not popular and we are not personally known to many Australians. Few have met us and a small minority count us as friends. 

"And despite never having met any of us and knowing very little about us other than what is in the media … Australians hold and express strong views about us, the great proportion of which is negative and unfriendly. It has ever been thus, worse in the past but still true today."

Pearson is the founder and director of the Cape York Partnership, and the author of Radical Hope and Mission. He comes from the Guugu Yimithirr community of Hope Vale, and was one of the architects of the Ulura Statement from the Heart.

The Boyer Lectures are Australia's equivalent of the CBC Massey Lectures in Canada. Pearson's five lectures aimed to give a deeper understanding of the reason for proposing the Voice to Parliament, as well as the history of attempts to get the First Nations of Australia recognized in its constitution. 

Transcript and audio for Boyer Lecture 1

In his opening lecture, Recognition, Pearson tells a story of the past, the present, and the future, in light of the 2023 referendum on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament. He discusses who the people of Australia were, who they are, and who they can be. 

Transcript and audio for Boyer Lecture 2 

In his second lecture, Pearson traces the long process that led to the proposal for a Voice to Parliament enshrined in the constitution. He identifies a speech by John Howard in 2007, which he says provided "the core rationale for constitutional recognition."

Transcript and audio for Boyer Lecture 3

In his third lecture, Pearson argues that Indigenous Australians have become trapped in the "bottom million" of the nation when it comes to economic development. He describes the ongoing effect of welfare dependency, or "passive welfare," which he says is not just a problem afflicting Indigenous communities — it's a human problem.

Transcript and audio for Boyer Lecture 4

In his fourth lecture, Pearson examines educational barriers facing Indigenous youth, and the critical need to raise literacy and numeracy rates through transformational school programs.

Transcript and audio for Boyer Lecture 5

In his final lecture, Pearson explores Australian identity and argues that diversity and distinctiveness are undermined when commonalities are ignored.

*This IDEAS episode was produced by Tom Howell.