....and he says things have improved under Labor LOLOL ....ask the people in the Alice
Voice campaigner Thomas Mayo calls to legislate the same sort of body the country voted against
A prominent Indigenous “Yes” campaigner is pushing for a legislated Voice to Parliament — three months after Australians rejected the plan to entrench one in the constitution.
One of the most prominent Indigenous “Yes” campaigners at last year’s defeated referendum has backed a legislated Voice to Parliament — less than three months after Australians rejected the plan to entrench one in the constitution.
Thomas Mayo, a trade unionist who sits on the board of Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, the peak body behind the Yes 23 campaign, told News Corp that while Indigenous conditions had improved since the election of the Albanese government, the defeat of the Voice had left a hole that would need to be filled. He also called on the Coalition to offer bipartisanship and to stop playing politics with Indigenous affairs.
“I think in practice, on the ground things have improved under Labor,” he said, pointing to the increase in the numbers of renal chairs in the Northern Territory as well as improvements in housing. “Labor is more genuine about making progress.
The Coalition had almost 10 years in power and in that time things went backwards. They had ample time to make progress on Closing the Gap but failed to do so.”
But, despite the improvements, Mr Mayo said there was still a need for a representative body for Indigenous Australians.
“We’re at a low point now because there is no representative body that can work with the parliament with some authority and process to be bringing solutions from the grassroots,” he said.
The rejection of the Voice had not diminished the need for such a body. “Something needs to be legislated regardless of whether it is in the constitution or not,” he said.
Any such body would need to be created in consultation with Indigenous leaders, who are still smarting from the defeat of the Voice.
“What that will look like is something that Indigenous leadership is going to have to work amongst themselves on,” he said.
“People need to understand that this is going to be difficult.”
Mr Mayo said there was truth to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent comments that defeat of the Voice referendum “wasn’t a loss to me”.
“In some ways he’s right … non-Indigenous people lost nothing personally out of the referendum defeat.
Not compared to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who will see entrenched disadvantage continuing on to their children and so on if the government does not tackle the issues with greater urgency, and if the Coalition doesn’t stop using Indigenous people’s lives as an opportunity for political conflict,” he said.
“We’re at a low point now because there is no representative body that can work with the parliament with some authority and process to be bringing solutions from the grassroots,” he said.
The rejection of the Voice had not diminished the need for such a body. “Something needs to be legislated regardless of whether it is in the constitution or not,” he said.
Any such body would need to be created in consultation with Indigenous leaders, who are still smarting from the defeat of the Voice.
“What that will look like is something that Indigenous leadership is going to have to work amongst themselves on,” he said.
