Voice to Parliament
Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (13:14): I would like to speak about the groundswell of community events that are happening in support of constitutional recognition of our First Peoples across the Southern Metropolitan Region. I recently had the pleasure of attending a forum at Monash University’s Caulfield campus hosted by the federal member for Macnamara Josh Burns and joined by the Commonwealth Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. The forum started with a very thoughtful and generous welcome to country by N’arweet Carolyn Briggs and followed with a discussion of the importance of the Voice campaign, with moving contributions from Professor Christopher Lawrence from Monash University, talking in very honest terms about his traumatic childhood and the impact of that ongoing trauma on him and his family, and Jamil Tye from the very important William Cooper Institute at Monash University, explaining the federal referendum on recognising a First Nations voice in the constitution as a simple but profound measure which will give First Nations people a say in decisions that affect them. Voice, treaty and truth have always been a priority for the Andrews Labor government. I am proud of the progress we have made here in Victoria leading the nation working with Aboriginal Victorians toward self-determination, and I know that voters across the Southern Metropolitan Region are looking forward to the opportunity to vote yes for constitutional recognition later in 2023.