Six years ago, while the sun crept up into the crevices of Uluru, millions of Australians woke to what seemed like just another morning in May.
But for a few hundred First Nations people gathered in the centre of Australia, history was being made.
With bleary eyes after a sleepless night, one of the Aboriginal leaders there described his “euphoria”.
Indigenous people had just agreed to a consensus position on what we now know as the Uluru Statement from the Heart — a request for Australians to change our constitution.
They called it a simple plea to be heard, an idea they believed could repair the wounds of colonisation that run so deep.
It took six years of rejection, diplomacy, and debate but now, on October 14, Australia will answer this question once and for all.
No matter how the vote lands, this is a major moment in our history.
Should we give First Nations people a permanent say on the laws that affect them? The laws and policies that have often been ineffective at best and disastrous at worst.
Could a voice start to turn around the shameful inequities which divide black and white in our country?
Would it be an additional layer of bureaucracy, or should we be reaching further for a national treaty?
Senator for the Northern Territory Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has always argued that a Voice is unnecessary and that all politicians could start listening to her people now.
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A voice for the vulnerable
This referendum campaign has already proved emotional, divisive, and deeply political — and it’s only just beginning.
It’s easy to forget that an increasingly heated referendum campaign over a voice for the vulnerable began with so much hope for something better.
Aboriginal communities are crying out for new solutions to give Indigenous children the future they deserve.
Too many Indigenous elders are dying before they meet their grandchildren.
Too many families are locked out of work, living in inadequate housing and battling ill-health.
Torres Strait Islander campaigner and AFL executive Tanya Hosch says it’s too easy to speak of numbers and not real people.
In an emotional speech in Adelaide, she revealed she contracted a disease related to type two diabetes and has had her lower right leg amputated.
Two weeks since leaving hospital, she told her story: “I have battled for three years and across six surgeries trying to avoid the loss of my limb. I’m not without privilege and access to services, but still the service design let me down.”
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‘The best of our Australian character’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — Australia’s first referendum in almost 25 years.
“It’s a moment calling out to the best of our Australian character,” he says.
“For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people this has been a marathon. For all of us, it is now a sprint.”
Some of the polling looks grim for the Yes campaign, but both sides know that a large swathe of Australians are yet to consider how they might vote.
Millions of Australians have never voted in a referendum and have had little to no engagement with the debate over Indigenous rights.
The proposal on a Voice to Parliament needs support from a majority of voters in four of the six states to pass.
No matter the outcome, this October could be the defining moment for Anthony Albanese’s prime ministership.
Few before him have tackled such a complex reform question at such a complex time.
Australians are already contending with exorbitant rents and mortgages and soaring cost of living pressures in a rapidly changing world.
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This is unfinished business
For many Aboriginal people, the next six weeks will mark the culmination of a lifetime of advocacy.
The Yes and No camps know that every day and every door knock will be crucial.
There is a huge amount of messaging and campaigning has already begun online, and some of it is hurtful, ugly and racist.
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While many Indigenous Australians are emphatically supportive of the Voice — and the No case is being led by prominent Aboriginal voices — others are exhausted.
The campaign will undoubtedly be deeply emotional for Indigenous people, particularly for elders who have faced so much discrimination over the course of their lives.
This campaign is unfinished business for many First Nations leaders across Australia.
This is the moment the nation decides if it will write a new chapter in the fight long fight for recognition.
If it fails, Indigenous people know this referendum may never have a re-run.
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