MILLIE TELFORD ON THE VOICE: “THIS IS A VOTE ABOUT US AS FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE, AND IT'S REALLY ABOUT ASKING… DO PEOPLE SUPPORT AND VALUE FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE? AND I REALLY HOPE THE COUNTRY SAYS ‘YES’ TO THAT.”

MILLIE TELFORD ON THE VOICE: “THIS IS A VOTE ABOUT US AS FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE, AND IT'S REALLY ABOUT ASKING… DO PEOPLE SUPPORT AND VALUE FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE? AND I REALLY HOPE THE COUNTRY SAYS ‘YES’ TO THAT.”

Amelia Telford is a Bundjalung and South Sea Islander woman who grew up in Northern NSW. After leaving school, ‘Millie’ – alongside Larissa Baldwin-Roberts – co-founded Seed Mob, the first Indigenous youth climate network. Campaigning against gas fracking on Country and building a strong national youth movement on climate, she earned NAIDOC’s Youth of the Year title. Millie continues her work today building capacity of First Nations led movements and advocacy across Australia with the Australian Progress group.

Can you tell us about the origins of the Voice?

What's important to start with is the history of the country and the fact that ever since colonisation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been fighting for our rights – land rights, basic human rights – but also to protect our Country, to protect our children, our future, our old people and our culture. All of that. And because of that brutal history we need to be honest about in this country, there are a lot of struggles our people have gone through. And so across many different issues, we've constantly had to advocate for our own rights and advocate to be able to have a say on issues that affect us. And so over the generations, there's been lots of different ways that our people have done that, and lots of different ways we've tried to have a voice on issues that affect us. But this latest iteration that we're going to a referendum on comes from the Uluru Statement and has three parts to it around Voice, Treaty, and Truth. The referendum gives people an opportunity to vote on whether or not people agree that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should have a say on issues that affect us. That’s what the Voice to Parliament would be if the referendum is successful.

How important is it for Indigenous Australians to have direct representation?

Over the years we've had groups like ATSIC or the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples – representative bodies nationally for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – but when those representative bodies started challenging government on their inaction or their racist, harmful, hurtful policies, when the government didn't like what those representative bodies were saying, they just got rid of them. They defunded them and said, see you later. So that's why this had to go to a referendum, because if it gets up, it would be enshrined in the Constitution, which means the only way they could get rid of it is by going to another referendum. I guess the other thing I would just say is that obviously it is really uncomfortable and doesn't feel right that 97 per cent of the population gets to have a say on this. It's something that affects approximately 3 per cent, but unfortunately that's the only way you can change the Constitution, through a referendum. The government could have legislated a representative body but the risk in that is what we've seen play out historically. When it comes to the representation we have in parliament at the moment – in terms of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of parliament or senators, at both state and federal levels – I think it's incredible that we have the most First Nations people in those positions we’ve ever had. But the reality is that those people represent their electorates, first and foremost. They’re First Nations people, but their role and their remit is to represent their whole community, and that includes non-Indigenous people as well. So the difference here is that the Voice to Parliament would be a mechanism for us to have a say on issues that affect us and actually feed into the policies that impact our everyday lives. Often governments have made top-down decisions by people who don't know what it means to be an Aboriginal person, who don't know the experiences we’ve had, don’t know the challenges we face in community. I think at the end of the day, anyone, regardless of who you are, can empathise with what it feels like to not be listened to and to be excluded from a decision that has an impact on your life.

How pivotal is this moment? How pivotal could it be?

I think for me, why I've really wanted to put time into this is because referendums are about voting on a principle and that principle sends a message to the country. And this is a vote about us as First Nations people, and it's really about asking, do people want to see change? Do people support and value First Nations people? And I really hope the country says ‘yes’ to that. And I worry that if the country says ‘no’, then where does that leave us? Does that take us backwards? How does that impact all the other campaigns for justice, whether it's climate justice, whether it's protecting Country, housing, ending deaths in custody, so many of the other issues that we've been fighting for a really long time? What does a ‘no’ vote mean for all that? And so for me, it's really about the message that's being sent, and I hope that's a message that is not just ‘yes’ to the Voice to Parliament, but ‘yes’ to get us on the pathway to treaties, to truth telling and to a future where our communities thrive. Ultimately when we have that, everyone thrives.

Millie Telford: “If we look at the bigger picture, outside of the binary ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and connect with the shared values so many of us have and the vision we have for a better future for all, I think a lot of people are on board with that.”

What about the potential of the Voice to help protect Country?
The Voice to Parliament would go hand in hand with so many other ways that we create change. This isn't going to be a silver bullet that will fix everything and so we need to continue to advocate in lots of different ways, but I think climate change is an issue that really does impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, from the destruction of our lands, digging up coal, oil and gas, to the impacts that we've faced from floods, fires, access to clean drinking water, the list goes on. As Aboriginal people, we are the oldest living culture in the world and we have so much knowledge and value systems that have enabled us to live sustainably for tens of thousands of years. Our communities have so many of the solutions to these issues, we just haven't been listened to.

Do you feel like a ‘yes’ vote would help non-Indigenous Australians feel more comfortable – prouder even – about our national identity?
We’ve worked on a research project called Passing the Message Stick and one of the things that we found was that the majority of Australians really care about seeing change for First Nations people and acknowledge there is a history of brutal atrocities and that our communities have been treated unfairly and that needs to change. But I guess with what we've seen play out in the referendum, it's become a massive culture war that far-right extremists and politicians with their own political agendas have used to spread misinformation and disinformation and lies and really harmful, racist, deficit narratives about saying who they think our communities are. And that's just not true. Unfortunately we haven't been hearing from those that it affects the most and so I think it's really caused a lot of confusion for people. But as you say, it does force us into a position of actually reflecting on ourselves, about who we are as a nation and the underlying racism that does exist.

Where would a ‘no’ vote leave us?
A ‘no’ outcome I fear would give even more power to the far-right and would say it's okay to continue to be racist. But I think at the end of the day, if we look at the bigger picture, outside of the binary ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and connect with the shared values so many of us have and the vision we have for a better future for all, I think a lot of people are on board with that. So regardless of the outcome, there’s still a lot of work that we need to do going forward.

It’s frustrating because it already happens in other places all over the world.
It's unfortunate that you have to compare us on an international stage in order to get people to care about it but I guess, yeah, Australia has a very long way to go. And it's not to say that those countries and those systems are perfect. There’ve been treaties that have been broken, and the Voice to Parliament won't be perfect either. But it's like I said before, this is just another mechanism alongside all the other ways that we continue to create change. It’s really just a stop along the journey. It's not the final destination. We need people to continue to support and be in solidarity and take action with us beyond October 14.

Indian Ocean light show, Kimberley coast. Photo Ted Grambeau

Millie Telford: “As Aboriginal people, we are the oldest living culture in the world and we have so much knowledge and value systems that have enabled us to live sustainably for tens of thousands of years. Our communities have so many of the solutions to these issues, we just haven't been listened to.” Photo Ted Grambeau

What should people be thinking about on Saturday as they're walking in to vote? What should be front of their minds?
I think for those who already know they're going to be writing ‘yes’, what I would really encourage those people to do is don't underestimate the power of having a conversation with your family and friends and neighbours and those around you, because I think a lot of people will turn up to the polling booth undecided and not quite sure what to do. A lot of people haven't had the chance to really have a conversation about this with others. They've just seen the news or social media. So I think the power of having conversations with people is absolutely critical. It’s a conversation about the future of young people in this country and the future they're going to inherit.

And what about life on October 15, regardless of the result?
Our communities have been fighting on so many different fronts; whether it's fighting for treaties or truth telling or ending deaths in custody, keeping our kids in community, health, education, protecting Country and climate justice. And that will continue beyond the referendum. There's actually a quote by my colleague, Tarneen Onus Browne, they said, “The fight is not over and the work is not done. I ask that your ‘yes’ be a commitment to continuing to support our campaigns, standing alongside us in our fights for justice and joining us on the streets at our protests, because ‘yes’ is not enough.” And I think that would be a powerful thing, because at the end of the day, regardless of what the outcome is, this is going to continue and we need people to not only be with us now but continue to be with us into the future. We all have a role to play and a collective responsibility to fight for First Nations justice in this country.

MILLIE TELFORD ON THE VOICE: “THIS IS A VOTE ABOUT US AS FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE, AND IT'S REALLY ABOUT ASKING… DO PEOPLE SUPPORT AND VALUE FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE? AND I REALLY HOPE THE COUNTRY SAYS ‘YES’ TO THAT.”

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