The Uluru Statement From the Heart, the result of several national dialogues and overwhelming consensus amongst Indigenous Australians across the country, called for a Voice and Treaty. Importantly, it called for Australians of all backgrounds to walk with them toward a better future.
Indian Link is proud to accept that invitation and affirms its support for the establishment of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and a ‘Yes’ vote at the upcoming referendum.
Indigenous Australians have cared for and survived on this land that we now call our home for over 60,000 years. Where Indigenous Australians survived and thrived for tens of thousands of years, their land, culture and people were rapidly decimated following the arrival of British colonials. The dispossession, intergenerational trauma and historically discriminatory policy in a comparatively short space of time have caused systemic structural barriers for Indigenous Australians that are impossible to ignore, and explain the severe disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.
Indeed, that colonial impact is a dark period in Australian history that we as Australians must acknowledge and confront. It is a history whose impact endures today. Moreover, it is a history that we as South Asians can empathise with. Despite achieving independence, we know that the impacts of British colonialism in the subcontinent are still felt today and we, of all people, must advocate for the opportunity for self-determination.
The impact of that colonialism in Australia has resulted in Indigenous Australians suffering systemic racism, disproportionate representation in prison, lower levels of educational attainment and overall life expectancy compared to every other demographic in this country. Years of neglect and failing to adequately consult and listen to Indigenous Australians has meant that the divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians continues to this day. Where South Asia has had the opportunity to achieve self-determination and find and use its voice, Indigenous Australians have not.
What we as a country are doing right now is quite clearly not working. The structural nature of the problem clearly requires a structural solution. The Voice to Parliament provides a first significant step towards empowerment, reconciliation and constitutional recognition.
Since 1994, this publication has empowered the South Asian community in Australia by informing and mobilising public opinion. It is an inescapable truth that even we, as migrants, have inadvertently benefitted from the dispossession of Indigenous communities. Accordingly, as a publication that is also proudly Australian, we believe it is at the core of the values of this masthead, and our fundamental duty, to inform and mobilise support in solidarity with our Indigenous brothers and sisters, and work to set right those enduring historical wrongs.
We hope you, our readers and listeners, will join us on this journey to walk hand-in-hand in solidarity with Indigenous Australians and write a bright new chapter for Australia by voting Yes. Support Voice ReferendumÂ
Indian Link Media Group
Listen: ‘Indigenous history is one that South Asians can empathise with’