Volunteers who campaigned in support of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament recently met at the Redfern Community Centre to hear about the way forward from the outgoing Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney and Indigenous author and activist, Thomas Mayo.
The event was hosted by local federal member, Tanya Plibersek.
Wiradjuri elder, Aunty Norma Ingram, acknowledged Country for around 100 Yes campaigners before Plibersek thanked them for working “with all your heart and soul for that Yes vote”.
“It’s important to comfort each other and fortify one another for what comes next because there’s always something that comes next. This is a long battle. It’s been fought for many decades. We have made advances,” Plibersek said.
About 70.9 per cent of Sydneysiders voted in support of a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice.
“In some places the vote was more than 90 per cent yes. But it didn’t happen without hard work,” Plibersek said.
Burney, a proud Wiradjuri woman, said she remained positive and was focused on Closing the Gap.
“I want you to take into your hearts today that while the outcome was heartbreaking there were some silver linings to embrace,” she said.
“There is a new young Indigenous leadership coming through and 6.3 million Australians stood with us and some of you are with us today. These are things to embrace and to understand that this is not the end.”
Indigenous actor and author, Thomas Mayo, told the crowd that he wrote his latest book, Always Was, Always Will Be, “to help people have hope and to continue in defiance of those bad actors that ruined that opportunity last year”.
“I have such a deep appreciation for all of you”, the Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man, said.
“I look around and I see familiar faces and I know that you made many friends as well. It’s one of those positive things that we tried to do last year, the friendship and the solidarity, it’s going to last so much longer that the bastards who tried to take it away from us.”
Mayo told the gathering that “in the first month after the referendum when I saw the Yes campaign placards, the shirts and the stickers, my heart was crushed. But by Christmas I started to see the Yes signs and I started feeling positive again.”
“One thing is absolutely certain to me. What we tried to do last year will be achieved. We were on the right side of history,” Mayo said.
