At the core of the Uluru Statement from the Heart there are three key elements: a call for a First Nations voice to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution; a Makarrata Commission to supervise agreement making, or treaties; and, for the Makarrata Commission to oversee a process of truth-telling for the nation. Or put simply in three words: Voice, Treaty, Truth.
The establishment of a First Nations Voice in the Constitution is the priority reform for Indigenous people. It is the key step forward. “A Voice”, writes Thomas Mayor, a Torres Strait Islander and author of Finding the Heart of the Nation, is “the first reform because it will start to address … political disempowerment, setting us on the path for the future reforms of Treaty and Truth.”
Allan Murray, a Redfern man with Wiradjuri, Yorta Yorta and Gamilaroi ancestry, and a proud supporter of the Redfern All Blacks, says that there is an “urgent need for a constitutionally enshrined First Nations Voice as an important first step for First Nations Unity”.
The Statement from the Heart has five thought-provoking themes that have fascinating parallels with Jesus’ keynote proclamation about the kingdom or reign of God at the beginning of his ministry in Galilee (Matthew 4:12-26).
The first is the power of place. In the Statement from the Heart, Aboriginal leaders from right across the nation gather at Uluru. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus goes to Galilee.
Uluru lies at the heart of Australia. The Sea of Galilee lies at the very heart of ancient Israel.
Uluru, from time immemorial, has been a sacred place that evokes spiritual transformation. Galilee is foretold by the prophet Isaiah as the place where a great light will shine in the darkness. Uluru symbolises the breaking down of divisions between black and white, and black and black. Galilee symbolises embracing people of all nations.
Uluru expresses Indigenous people’s conviction that they are on the road to change. Galilee expresses Matthew’s conviction that Jesus’ life is unfolding according to God’s plan.
Uluru is a reminder to all of us that we can find the heart of the nation. Galilee is a reminder that God’s reign of justice, righteousness and peace will finally prevail.
In the Statement from the Heart there is a “spiritual notion” of sovereignty which, like the kingdom or reign of God in the Gospel, challenges Australia’s claim to sovereignty and differs from most forms of earthly rule. Also, both the notion of “ancient sovereignty” in the Uluru Statement and the reign of God envisage hope, transformation, new relationships and a new ordering of things. The framers of the Uluru Statement express this hopeful vision with the words: “With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood.”
Thirdly, there is an interesting parallel between the Uluru Statement’s invitation to the people of Australia to “listen” and Jesus’ call for “repentance” or turning around towards God. Both listening and repentance are doorways to change. For too long Aboriginal and Islander people have not been listened to. Professor Megan Davis compares our governments and Aboriginal and Islander people to ships passing each other in the night. There is, she says: “Only a signal and a distant voice in the darkness; / Only a look and a voice, / then darkness again and silence.”
Listening is important. Good listening is an act of love. “Imaginative listening”, or “heart listening”, as Rachel Perkins calls it, is showing respect, dreaming together.
Both the framers of the Statement from the Heart and Jesus invite others to form a committed community to embrace their teaching. Aboriginal and Islander people invite all Australians to “walk with’” or alongside them into “a better future” – into a new and better Australia. They invite Australians to take any action possible to move politicians and, when the time comes, to vote “yes” to the referendum question on the Voice to Parliament. Surely, this is not too much to ask.
Finally, the Statement from the Heart’s three-fold program of Voice, Treaty and Truth-telling to the nation echoes Jesus’ programmatic activities of preaching, teaching and healing – Jesus’ good news of the kingdom of God. Both have the potential to heal the nation and to bring the Australian people together. It is the way forward.
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On January 26, the Rev. Dr William Emilsen preached at South Sydney Uniting Church about the Uluru Statement from the Heart. He also asked those present to add their signatures to the margins of a replica of the statement.
