Uluru Statement from the Heart
Council unanimously voted in support of adopting the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2022, committing to real action and information sharing in a show of support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
About the statement
The Uluru Statement is a call by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to:
- change the way Indigenous Australians are recognised
- strengthen a voice in their own affairs for fair and practical change
- be included in the Australian Constitution and give them the recognition that they deserve, having been on this land for over 60,000 years.
The statement is comprised of 3 reforms: Voice, Treaty and Truth.
Importance
Change is needed because Australia has seen decades of failed policies directed towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These are policies created from government without input from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are directly affected by them.
They have often been formed by good intentions, but have not delivered better outcomes.
Our role
Council identified that it could play a pivotal role in facilitating the discussion surrounding Voice, Treaty and Truth as well as the referendum.
Through information sharing and education, Council provided community members and staff with the greatest opportunity to be informed and therefore equipped to make their own decisions surrounding the referendum. Council’s endorsement of the Uluru Statement from the Heart was its next step in reconciliation with Australia’s First Nations peoples.
This work will continue to be achieved through its advocacy and endorsement of the Statement and through the development of its inaugural localised self-determination strategy.
On 14 October, the referendum outcome identified a majority "no" to a Voice to Parliament. Council moving forward will continue to play it’s identified role to educate and share information about all elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart; Voice, Treaty and Truth.
Videos
Watch the signing of the statement
“The Uluru Statement from the Heart is a message written to the Australian people from indigenous Australians. It is the culmination of more then a decade’s work and the largest deliberative process with Indigenous people on Australia’s Constitution in our nations' history. Thirteen meetings were held across the country with a final national convention involving hundreds of delegates at our nations physical and spiritual heart Uluru ..."
Watch Council's adoption of the statement on 5 December 2022
Councillors' adoption of the Uluru Statement from the Heart begins at 22:56
In conversation with Thomas Mayo, signatory to the Uluru Statement, 4 May 2023
In this community forum, watch Thomas Mayo speak with Shelly Ware about the creation of the Uluru Statement through a series of community dialogues around the country, what it means to him and the 250 delegates who signed the Statement in 2017 and how it illuminates a path towards a better future for all Australians.
Referendum panel discussion, 29 June 2023
Our second community information session on the Uluru Statement was a panel discussion with constitutional law expert Professor Cheryl Saunders OAM and reconciliation scholar Professor Andrew Gunstone, with Banyule Citizen of the Year Uncle Charles Pakana moderating.
The panel answered questions from the audience at this sold-out event at Ivanhoe Library and Cultural Hub.