We thank the Albanese Government for committing to the Uluru Statement from the Heart (the Statement) in full and encourage all Australians to embrace the Statement. 

The Statement is premised on the Makarrata, “a coming together after conflict”.

 In the last 200 hundred years, First Nations have experienced:

• Loss of languages, families, and communities
• Loss of land, waters and skies resulting in disconnection from their cultural, spiritual and economic inheritance.

Government policies have often failed because solutions designed through Western lenses are often bureaucratic and tend to discount First Nations’ voices. 

Today, First Nations continue to experience:

• The lowest rates of home ownership
• The poorest health and life expectancy
• The worst rates of homelessness, problem gambling and drug dependence
• The world’s highest incarceration rates.

The Voice to Parliament is a recognition by the Government that First Nations’ voices must be consulted about proposed laws and policies that affect them. The literature shows that consulting First Nations’ voices leads to better wellbeing, health, and economic outcomes.

SEMPHN supports the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the establishment of a Voice to Parliament to enshrine First Nations peoples’ perspectives into legislation. The Voice to Parliament is a first step to reconciliation and self-determination with governments. Further steps include the treaties and truth telling currently being negotiated in various states. 

Written by SEMPHN Clinical and Community Council First Nations’ members, Dr Luke Martin and Brenda McDermott, on behalf of SEMPHN