Noel Pearson leads a Property Council information session on Voice to Parliament
As part of the new 2022 – 2025 Strategic Plan, the Property Council has been consulting with members and staff to determine what approach our organisation should take to the Voice to Parliament.
As part of this consultation, over 500 members and staff attended an information forum with prominent Indigenous activist, lawyer and academic Noel Pearson, a supporter of the Voice, to run through what the proposal is asking.
Through constitutional recognition of a Voice to Parliament, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people would be able to advise the Parliament, in a non-binding manner, on initiatives and policies that affect them.
In July last year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “we should consider asking our fellow Australians something as simple as ‘Do you support an alteration to the constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?’”
Mr Pearson told the forum that the process for constitutional recognition has been long and is an important step in reconciliation and closing the gap.
“My chief concern with recognition is that I don’t think the whole picture comes together without it,” he said.
“You must tackle the questions of Indigenous Australians at all levels. Households, families, community, safety and poverty. All those issues have got to be tackled as well as the structural issues.
“The biggest structure is the constitution.”
Mr Pearson said we need to work on the practical every day, but we will stop short if Australia does not recognise it is not just 250 years old.
“Symbolic has a lot of bearing on the practical,” he said.
“If we don’t have dignity or a proper place in our country, then we will always struggle to get the practical right.”
Mr Pearson was asked by the audience on the detail of the proposal. He said the constitutional detail has already been laid out in the three sentences Mr Albanese outlined as a starting point for discussion to amend the constitution:
- There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
- The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to Parliament and the Executive Government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
“The proposal is the model for the constitutional amendment,” he said.
“The questions that must be asked of this model are: Does this model achieve the objective of recognition? Well, I think it does.
“Does the model preserve the supremacy of the parliament? It does…. the power is vested in the parliament to determine functions, power composition and procedures.
“The third question: is it constitutionally safe and not give rise to unintended consequences?
“Three former high court judges have been involved in the wording of the amendment. I can confidently say to you this provision is very elegant, it achieves recognition, it preserves the supremacy of the parliament and is constitutionally safe.”
Mr Pearson said the legislative model is up to the parliament to decide on.
“The problem with talking about the legislative details is that parliament can change the model at any time it chooses,” he said.
Mr Pearson was asked why there was to be a Voice first, then Treaty, and why some renowned Indigenous campaigners had spoken out against it.
He said over 80 per cent of Indigenous peoples support the Voice, and that without it, we would not be able to have a Treaty as the Voice would discuss the Treaty with parliament.
“This is the most important year, as far as the relations for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, this is a defining year, and we have to get it right,” he said.
“This is our constitution. We all have a responsibility. And changing it involves all of us.
“Indigenous people are only three per cent of the population, they can’t change the constitution. Australian people must own this, own the change. Indigenous people are asking the country ‘let’s do this, this is the recognition we seek, this will make a better constitution and a better Australia for all of us.’”
Property Council Chief Executive Mike Zorbas thanked Mr Pearson. He noted the Property Council currently has no member mandate on the Voice to Parliament and this briefing arises from the consultation process the Property Council committed to as part of our 3-year strategy launched in October 2022.
“Thank you all for taking an hour in a busy year to think beyond our daily thought leadership agenda on housing, cities, tax and sustainability to consider the direction of our next steps on our national path to reconciliation.
“This process, as part of a broader process, will assist the Property Council Board to form a position in due course,” he said.
Please read our discussion paper. Any feedback can be sent to [email protected].