Pat Anderson AO: Voice a solution to a uniquely Australian situation
The Uluru Statement from the Heart painting was on show at the Sydney Opera House. (Image credit: Julia Strang / The Uluru Dialogue)
PAT ANDERSON AO has reminded the nation that the First Nations Voice to Parliament, which Aussies will vote on at the upcoming Constitutional Referendum, is a solution to a uniquely Australian situation.
Speaking at the Sydney Opera House, alongside her Uluru Dialogues Co-Chair Professor Megan Davis during a special in-conversation event, Ms Anderson said the Uluru Statement from the Heart was an invitation to Australia to unite for the betterment of the country, in particular to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through the establishment of a First Nations Voice to parliament, which would offer mob a say on policies and laws which affect them directly.
“The Uluru Statement is a proposition to the country - to heal and to do all of the things which are needed to make our communities and our families safe,” Alyawarre woman Ms Anderson said at the Opera House event, which was hosted by Yuwallarai woman Kirstie Parker.
Alyawarre woman Pat Anderson AO speaking at the Sydney Opera House. (Image credit: Julia Strang / The Uluru Dialoge)
“I am totally convinced that the Voice proposal which was decided on during and at the end of the whole regional dialogues process is a guide and a can lead us out of this terrible, entangled forest in which we live.”
“I really do believe were up for this as a country; that we can do it.
“This is an Australian situation. It’s not a duplication of what’s happened in Canada or wherever else – with our cousins across the ditch, for example.
“This is our solution to a very Australian situation. It’s one of the beauties of what we’re about to do.”
The in-conversation event at the Sydney Opera House is part of a national cities tour for Ms Anderson and Cobble Cobble woman Professor Megan Davis. To date they have visited Melbourne and Sydney, with stops at Adelaide, Hobart and Brisbane also on their agenda.
