Local yes vote push ramps up

WITH the referendum on the Indigenous voice to Parliament date announced last Wednesday, Ballarat for Yes volunteer campaigners were out and about the following day to talk to the community about the issue.

Since launching the initiative in early July, the group’s volunteers have been encouraging people to vote yes in the referendum, which is aimed at constitutionally recognising First Nations people and establishing an Indigenous advisory body.

Adnyamathanha Yuru man Shu Brown was one of the volunteers campaigning at Ballarat Station on Thursday morning.

He said for him, the voice to Parliament is about securing a better future for his children.

“We’ve done a lot of work in the past to help these issues [in education, housing, the legal system] as a country with closing the gap,” he said.

“It hasn’t worked. Now’s the time we get to have a say and have a voice in those outcomes. For me, as a father of four, it’s what do I see for the next generation as an Aboriginal man and a father.

“I want to see the best for my children and their community and if I can put them in better stead for the future, right now’s the time to make that change.”

Ballarat for Yes volunteers have held about 50 street stalls throughout the region since establishing, with roughly 300 people signed up to support the campaign.

Nearly 10,000 homes have been letterboxed with 1000 phone calls made to people in the community as part of the campaign.

The initiative is Jodie Downey’s first instance of volunteering, and she said the referendum would be a much-needed step forward for Australia’s Indigenous communities.

“I joined up when the launch started,” she said. “This is very close to my heart, standing up for social justice, but as a white Australian knowing we have to make this step.

“I’ve lived and worked with Gungganyji people in north Queensland so it’s close to my heart that we right these wrongs.

“I encourage people when I’m handing out leaflets at the supermarket every Saturday morning, read the Uluru Statement from the Heart. We can’t miss this opportunity.

“It’s so important we vote yes, that we recognise and respect the first people of our country.”