JULIAN LEESER

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR BEROWRA

MEDIA RELEASE

13 OCTOBER 2023

TOMORROW

Tomorrow Australians have an opportunity to complete the Constitution and help improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Together, we can take the next step on the path of reconciliation.

By Voting YES, Australians can recognise in our Constitution Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians as the First Australians – and complete our Constitution.

This referendum offers more than symbolism, it creates a space in our national and community life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to be heard.

As former Chief Justice of Australian Robert French has written “The Voice is a big idea but not a complicated one. It is low risk for a high return”.

The risk tomorrow is not change, it is that everything stays the same.

The same-old same-old has delivered for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians chronic ill-health, widespread unemployment, poverty, truancy, homelessness and a lack of safety for women and children.

It all stems from not being heard.

We can change that tomorrow.

For most Australians, Australia is the best place on Earth. It’s home. Yet despite this continent being home for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for tens of thousands of years, the First Australians are not sharing in the fruits of this land.

We share history, we share land and community and family bonds, yet we are in so many ways still strangers to each other. We must change that.

We can change that by listening. Listening starts with stopping, engaging, and listening to the lived experience of others. That’s what the Voice is all about.

Along with tens of thousands of YES advocates across the country and across the political divide, I’m appealing to my fellow Australians to listen to their hopes for our country, their families and a better future and vote YES.

ENDS

Media contact: Paul Ritchie 0447 950 011 or [email protected]