Australians have only ever known a system where Indigenous peoples are treated as problems to be solved, not as partners and active participants in determining their destiny.
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Australians have only ever known a system of consistent policy failure and poor outcomes for first nations peoples.
This year, we'll have a referendum to consider a First Nations Voice in the constitution.
Now I know a lot about a voice because I've authored and co-authored a number of publications on how it can be done.
I believe we must have enduring partnerships so that Indigenous communities can help inform policy and legal decisions that impact their lives and we can recognise the special place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia's history.
Most recently attitudes to reconciliation showed 95 per cent of Australian voters believed it is important to have - for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples - to have a say in matters that affect us.
And 81 per cent of Australians believed it is important to protect an Indigenous body within the constitution.
As Senior Australian of the Year and a member of the Council of Elders for aged care I want to particularly address senior Australians because you are the demographic being targeted with myths and misinformation by pundits who are either ill-informed or who malicious intent regarding the Voice.
A Voice is symbolic as it includes all of our first Nations in the foundation document of our country.
It addresses the injustice of their past exclusion and provides healing for the future.
A Voice is reasonable because without a formal process to provide advice to the Parliament or government policies are too often made for First Nations peoples rather than with us.
What Australians will be asked to vote on in the referendum is the principle of whether there should be a Voice. It will be for the Parliament to determine the details of how it would work through our normal legislative and democratic processes.
Enshrinement will mean our fate will no longer be determined by the whims of politics and ever changing governments.
The Voice is not about special rights for first peoples.
All Australians will remain equal in the eyes of the law.
The two-year nation-wide co-design process proposes that the voice will not deliver programs or funding and does not have a veto power.
The Voice has no ability to hinder parliamentary processes, introduce laws or legislation nor change them and the Parliament will be under no obligation to follow the Voice's advice. Some might say we already have 11 First Nations members of Australia's Parliament but First Nations parliamentarians cannot, nor should they be expected to represent all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices in Australia.
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They answer to all of their constituents and they are an instrument of their political parties. Surely it is obvious permanent change that is not party political - party politically driven is needed to deliver better outcomes for First Nations peoples and all Australians.
To all Australians tonight, I want to say the referendum is not a choice between improving people's lives or amending the constitution, we can do both but it will require bipartisanship, all levels of governments working together and it must involve those most affected, namely Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Here in Australia we are fortunate to be the home of the oldest continuing surviving cultures in the world.
This is something we should be proud of and we should celebrate as many of us are already doing.
Let's do this together as we did in the 1967 referendum and the bridge walks for reconciliation in 2000. Walk with us, vote "yes" in the referendum.
Professor Tom Calma gave this speech accepting the 2023 Senior Australian of the Year award.
