Five years after hundreds of Indigenous leaders endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart, there is renewed hope constitutional reform will be implemented.

May 26, 2022

It has been five years since hundreds of Indigenous leaders from across the country gathered to endorse the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Rejected by the Turnbull government in 2017, there is a renewed sense of optimism following the new Labor government’s pledge to implement the road map for constitutional reform.

“It’s been a big five years. We’ve done a lot of work to get ready for this moment,” the Uluru Dialogue’s co-chair Professor Megan Davis said on Thursday.

“There’s renewed energy and a great sense of hope as we begin to prepare for a referendum on a voice to parliament in the first term of parliament.”

The statement calls for a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament, a Makarrata Commission overseeing treaty agreement-making, as well as a national truth-telling process.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in his election victory speech on Saturday that his government was committed to implementing the statement in full.

“Together we can embrace the Uluru Statement from the Heart,” he said.

“We can answer its patient, gracious call for a voice enshrined in our Constitution because all of us all ought to be proud that amongst our great multicultural society we count the oldest living continuous culture in the world.”

Mr Albanese has previously said he wanted a referendum on creating an Indigenous voice to parliament by 2024.

“We know Australia is ready for this and we’re confident we have the impetus and momentum to turn the Uluru Statement proposal for a voice to parliament into tangible action,” Prof Davis said.

The next steps in the process are likely to be the release of a timeline of action for a referendum, and the drafting of a bill to parliament.

A referendum on a voice to parliament would be the first referendum in more than 20 years. Only eight out of 44 Australian referendums have succeeded since 1901.

Meanwhile, the nation marked National Sorry Day on Thursday, 25 years after the Bringing Them Home report was tabled in federal parliament.

The report gave voice to Stolen Generations survivors and highlighted the impact of racist government policies and practices.