‘Yes’ camp looks to father of reconciliation for push

Kat Wong | October 11, 2023

The ‘yes’ campaign is hoping for a last-minute boost from the father of reconciliation, Patrick Dodson, as well as prominent former Australians of the year.

Australians will vote in a referendum on Saturday to enshrine an Indigenous advisory body, known as the voice, in the constitution. 

Published polls are pointing to the referendum being defeated.

But with roughly one in eight voters still undecided, supporters are hoping Senator Dodson could help turn things around when he addresses the National Press Club on Wednesday.

The West Australian politician and Yawuru elder is dedicated to the preservation and development of First Nations rights and culture.

He says the voice would be a continuation of his life’s work and could help the country heal.

“It’s not only healing the wounds and trauma that Aboriginal people have suffered as a consequence of being conquered and subjugated to policies and practices, it’s also an opportunity to heal the wounds in the non-Aboriginal society,” he told Guardian Australia’s Full Story podcast recently.

“For them to understand that not everything that they’ve done in this country is bad, not everything that they’ve attempted is wrong.”

Senator Dodson was the Chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, a commissioner in the landmark royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody and serves as a director on the Central Land Council. 

Throughout his life he has also witnessed seminal moments in Aboriginal history including “rights for whites” meetings in the Northern Territory, the 1967 referendum, the native title and land rights movements and the 2007 apology.

And though he acknowledged the referendum would not solve every issue First Nations people face, it would put the country on the right path.

“It will put us beyond the sense of guilt, of not knowing where to go … the sense of shame,” he said.

A group of Australian of the Year winners have also united to urge the country towards a ‘yes’ vote.

Adam Goodes, Dylan Alcott, Cathy Freeman, Grace Tame, John Farnham, current winner Taryn Brumfitt and others have signed an open letter backing the referendum.

Tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley also added her name to the signatories and drew on her family’s history to urge Australians to back the voice.

“Three members of my own family have passed away prematurely, robbed of years of life by preventable heart conditions. That has been the past, and it is the cruel reality of the present,” she said.

“But on October 14 we can make sure it isn’t the future.”

More than three million people have cast early votes ahead of polling day on Saturday.