The Yes vote on a Voice to Parliament is simply union business

The union movement affirmed its support for the Yes vote in the upcoming Voice to Parliament referendum in the Unions for Yes campaign launch, an online event with over 1000 participants held on 22 February.

The ACTU’s Indigenous Officer Lara Watson introduced ACTU President Michelle O’Neill, Secretary Sally McManus and Maritime Union of Australia Rep and Uluru Statement from the Heart signatory Thomas Mayor in the culmination of days of campaign planning in Melbourne.

The words shared online were forthright and direct because the messages were simple.

Michelle O’Neill: “The Voice is simply about giving indigenous people a chance to have a say on laws that pertain to them”.

Sally McManus: “We’re supporting the Yes vote because we were asked by our Indigenous friends to do that”.

Thomas Mayor: “It’s about recognition and it’s about having a voice”.

McManus said the union movement has a crucial role to play in the campaign for a Yes vote, because “we’re by far the largest people’s movement in the country and by far the most effective campaigners.”

“This is our generation’s time to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our Indigenous comrades. They are asking us to walk alongside them to achieve this; it goes to our values of solidarity and equality and believing in a better life for everyone in Australia.”

She reiterated that the consensus reached in the Uluru Statement From The Heart was “really clearly saying one single thing – they want to have a say when government is making decisions about them”.

McManus compared this call to employees expecting to be informed properly when a boss made decisions affecting their working conditions.

Thomas, a Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country in Darwin, outlined the union movement’s support for Indigenous Australians, stretching back to the first Aboriginal advocacy groups at the start of the 20th century.

“There’s a proud history of unionists standing with us many times throughout history… this is union business; it has been for a long time.”

He said the lessons of having all their previous efforts ignored by governments went into the formulation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the basis of the push for a Voice to Parliament. Unions were one of the first groups to support the Uluru Statement and they have an “absolutely vital” role to play in gaining a Yes vote and “justice yet to be gained”.

“Australia is the only country in the world that doesn’t have a treaty with its First Nations people,” said McManus.

The Voice, apart from being an important step in its own right, is the first step in a carefully considered process to achieve that treaty.

McManus said it was time to officially recognise and celebrate the 65,000 years of continuous Indigenous culture on the lands now known as Australia.

“I am just incredibly humbled to live on the country where a culture has existed for so long – I can’t imagine something that lasts 300 years, let alone that long. What a human triumph!

“That a group of people could maintain a culture for so long… I am so humbled and so proud it’s part of Australia and who we are.

“It’s something for all of us to be so proud of and embrace.”