White Noise Podcast Ep 7: Referendum Special - How are we feeling about the vote on the Voice?
The Hub recorded a special episode of White Noise on the Vote on a Voice to Parliament, in particularly how a referendum is feeling for the people in and around the Hub.
It’s a time capsule of a unique moment and a particularly difficult moment for many of us. You can access support resources in our show notes.
It’s also a wealth of tips and reflections to add some extra context. We encourage you to listen closely to the extra context, and take these knowledges into your conversations.
You will hear a report from student’s providing education on the Voice, campaigning tips from leading advocates such as Tarneen Onus Browne, reflections from visiting academics like Professor Eve Tuck and reflections from senior executives of the past Advisory body, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Mr Mick Gooda and Mr Geoff Scott.
The podcast has been broken up into five parts: Bracing, Feeling Confused, Feeling Determined, Feeling Nostalgic, and Feeling Misrecognised.
Some quotes from the podcast:
"How am I feeling today? To be honest I’m feeling quite vulnerable. It’s not a nice feeling to think about the rest of the Country voting on our business, taking up the mantle of what they think is good to us. It strikes like a reversion to old-school paternalism to be honest, and so I feel really vulnerable, and I think a lot of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are feeling that too." - Associate Professor Sana Nakata, Kulkalgal woman from the Torres Straits
"So, I can say that I have spent time with Indigenous people here who are bracing for that, for October fourteenth, or talking about how they're going to spend that day, and the kind of caretaking practices that they'll take for that day." - Professor Eve Tuck, Unangax̂ woman from St Paul Island in Alaska
"In the upcoming referendum it’s been tough honestly, the closer we get I think the more everybody feels it, the wear and the exhaustion perhaps, but for me my mother always says we are eternal optimists, and I carry that with me- regardless of the outcome there is, there must always be hope for us, so that’s my model thoughts for how I feel about the referendum." - Niamh Whitford, Nyul Nyul woman from Western Australia
"... a lot of the ‘no’ campaign's messaging at times it's quite very negative and outlandish in some of its claims about how, you know, ‘it'll undermine democracy, divide the country, all land in Australia would become Native Title Land’ - And some of these claims which are really hard to sustain rationally, but nonetheless, they've cut through with some segments of the Australian population. And I think that's been, one of the problems with the ‘yes’ campaign is that I just don't feel like, you know, the messages supporting the Voice have really cut through the ‘no’ campaigns negative messaging." - Justin Mccall, from the Barbaram people of Far North Queensland
"We have a window to shift public narrative and build on the legacy of our elders and lay foundations for transformative and long term change. Regardless of your view on the referendum, it is important - is a moment where there's a spotlight on issues that affect our community. And I guess why messaging matters is that when we get the right message delivered by the right messengers to the right audience at the right time, we win campaigns, and over time we also generate a sustained attitude shifts that mean the next campaign is easier to win. This builds on momentum for long term change.
The lessons that are in our past and what our communities have done before works. But our message has changed. We've stepped into the deficit frame to appeal to government." - Tarneen Onus Browne, a proud Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta, Bindal and Miriam woman
People who joined us on this episode:
- Tony McAvoy, Senior Council
- Janine Mohamed, CEO of Lowitja Institute
- Justin McCaul, PhD Candidate
- Associate Professor Sana Nakata, Principal Research Fellow at the Centre for Indigenous Education and Research
- Rueben Berg, Co-Chair First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria
- Professor Eve Tuck, Canada Research Chair
- Mick Gooda, Referendum Council
- Geoff Scott, Uluru Statement from the Heart
- Tarneen Onus-Browne, Australian Progress
- Kaitlin Jempson , Naarm Law Students on Voice
- Niamh Whitford, Naarm Law Students on Voice
- Josie Mortimer, Naarm Law Students on Voice
- Mackenzie- Jane Stephan, Naarm Law Students on Voice