First Indigenous Voice to Parliament advertisement tells Australians to make history
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The first ad for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament campaign is an emotional pitch to a grassroots rally of ordinary Australians to ‘correct’ the wrongs First Peoples have no say in matters that affect them.
The Voice to Parliament is a proposed body that will advise the federal parliament on matters affecting indigenous peoples.
Shot near Alice Springs, the new ad shows Pitjantjatjara and Nyungar playwright and actor Trevor Jamieson talking to a group of seated Indigenous children in an outback, as if sitting around a campfire.
‘I have a story to tell you. It’s a good one,” Jamieson says.
The first ad promoting a ‘yes’ vote in the upcoming indigenous vote to parliament referendum has been released
“It’s about how these people, the First People, got a voice.”
Scenes between an Asian grandmother cooking with her grandchildren and a father helping his son repair a bicycle, while later they talk about how they proudly voted ‘yes’ in the referendum.
Jamieson then says that Indigenous people have ‘no voice’. No control over matters that concern them. It wasn’t right.’
The ad shows a massive crowd of mostly young people expressing their support for a yes vote by texting, calling, talking in the street and getting a tattoo.
“Everyone walked side by side,” says the older Asian woman.
“And that’s how we changed this country for the better, how we made history,” Jamieson continues.
“Is that story true?” one of the kids asks Jamieson.
The ad stars Pitjantjatjara and Nyungar playwright and actor Trevor Jamieson as the ‘storyteller’
What appears to be an Asian grandmother tells her children how she proudly voted for a vote in parliament
With a longing expression, Jamieson replies, “Could be.”
The ad ends with a caption of the new campaign’s slogan, “History Calls,” and a final pitch for “Vote yes for a First Nations vote to parliament.”
The Twitter account of indigenous advocacy group Uluru Statement Group, which funded the ad and will run the larger campaign, had seen the commercial 6,000 times Monday morning.
“We are proud to release our official ad as part of the History is Calling referendum education campaign,” the group tweeted.
“You, the Australian people, can make history by supporting a vote of the First Nations in Parliament.”
The first reactions were generally positive.
Uluru Dialogue co-chair Pat Anderson (center) appeared in the ad, saying of the campaign that ‘history is calling’ Australians to vote yes
A father helping his son fix a bicycle tells how he decided to ‘make up for the fact that indigenous people had no voice’
‘For all those who say it happened in the past, before my time, etc. Well, it’s your time now, let’s see what you’re going to do next. Be on the good side, be the author of this history #VoteYes,” read one of the comments.
The mainly indigenous creators of the ad have an impressive pedigree,
The director of photography Tyson Perkins is the grandson of pioneering Indigenous rights activist Charles Perkins, while the score composer, James Henry, is the grandson of famed musician Jimmy Little.
Mr. Albanese indicated that this model would form the basis of the Voice’s design and would be refined as the debate evolved
Uluru Dialogue co-chair Pat Anderson, who is featured in the ad between two children, said: the guard the commercial was encouraged to get Australians talking about a better future.
“Silence never made history, and history calls,” Anderson said.
“It’s up to all Australians to answer. We call on the nation to walk with us on this final stretch toward a brighter future.”
Meanwhile, Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney has provided more details about what areas the proposed Indigenous Vote to Parliament would cover and how it would work.
The first ‘history is calling’ ad shows Australians from different walks of life supporting the yes vote for a vote to parliament
According to the ad, people will ‘make a song and dance’ about supporting an indigenous voice to parliament
Ms Burney said the body would advise Parliament on issues directly affecting indigenous peoples and examine bills before they are submitted.
“It won’t be about things like taxes or defense and other nonsense that has been uttered in recent weeks,” Ms Burney told Sky News.
“It will definitely be about issues that directly affect the lives of First Nations people and one of the keys to this is particularly focusing on Closing the Gap goals.”
‘For example, domestic violence. We’re going to have a separate First Nations strategy.
“We also need to be very aware that we have the Coalition of Peaks (bodies). The role of the voice is not to usurp all that, but to advise Parliament on matters specifically related to First Nations people.
‘Think about housing. Within that is part of the decisions to be made around First Nations housing. It’s not like this thing (Peter) Dutton says where everything affects the Aborigines, it’s where there’s a specific impact.”
Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney, seen here at the Albanian government swearing-in ceremony earlier this year, has given more details on how a vote would work for parliament
Other issues that could potentially fall within the scope of the Voice include Indigenous title, water rights, cultural issues, and childcare.
A referendum, likely to be held in the next 10 to 18 months, is needed to amend the Australian Constitution to create an Indigenous vote to parliament.
Will Australians vote for an Indigenous vote in parliament?
An Australia Institute poll in July found strong support not only for the Voice, but also for its inclusion in the Constitution.
The poll showed that 65 percent would vote yes, up from 58 percent when the same poll was held in June.
About 14 percent said they would vote no, while the other 21 percent would be undecided.
Support was strongest among Greens voters, but even 58 percent of coalition parties would vote yes.
About 59 percent of One Nation voters would vote yes, despite its leader Pauline Hanson leading the charge against the country. In June it was still 35 percent.
For a referendum to pass, a majority of states must also vote yes, but the poll showed that too was easily covered.
All four largest states had a comfortable majority with Victoria at 71 percent, Queensland 66 percent, WA 63 percent and NSW 62 percent.
Support was highest at 85 percent for Australians aged 18-29, but for those over 50 it was still over 50 percent.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has indicated that the referendum question will likely be: ‘Do you support a constitutional amendment that introduces an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander vote?’
Three lines would be added to the Constitution to create the advisory body; one of them says it can ‘submit representations to Parliament’ on issues relating to Indigenous Australians; and that Parliament may legislate on how it works.
For a referendum to pass, both an overall majority of votes and a majority of voters in the majority of states must be obtained.
Opinion polls conducted in July showed Australians strongly support the Voice to Parliament, with 65 percent of respondents saying they would vote yes.