Everything You Need to Know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart

 Everything You Need to Know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       July 6, 2021

 

Author  Megan Davis & George Williams.

Distributor:      New South Books
ISBN:                 9781742237404
Publisher:         UNSW Press
Release Date:   June 2021  

Website:    https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au 

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When the Uluru Statement from the Heart evolved it was a powerful message not just to the Politicians of Australia but also to the people of Australia; it was an urgent call from the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders to have a voice in Parliament, a voice that would be heard, a voice that gave them recognition through the Constitution of Australia. They talked about truth telling, a treaty and most importantly having a voice.

On May 26 2017, the statement was read out at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, a convention that saw First Nations people from all areas of Australia gather at Uluru to meet and work out what a was considered by all as landmark statement on many levels, calling for the establishment of a First Nations Voice: a call for Constitutional change. Unfortunately this call was rejected at the time and is continuing to be rejected by the Australian Parliament, but the Indigenous peoples are not about to let this Landmark Statement drop out of sight.

Everything you need to know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart from Megan Davis and George Williams, two  of Australia’s best known constitutional experts sets out the exactly what this Statement means to modern day Australia and Australians as they seek to address the past issues and find a clear pathway ahead.

 It is considered not just by First Nations people, but many others in Australia that the Uluru Statement needs to be accepted and to do achieve this it needs to be done via a Referendum, as was done in 1967 when more than 90% of voters voted overwhelmingly in support of Indigenous issues.

Many years on with change still desperately needed, now in 2021 the underlying issue of the change required to the Australian Constitution for ‘Reconciliation’ to occur, needs to have a powerful voice from the public once again as the main driver, is considered as paramount by not only the First Nations people but Australians in general.

Reading this presentation from Davis and Williams brings together the many aspects of the formation and reasoning behind the development of the Uluru Statement, the work that has continued since May 2017, the understanding of the changes that are required to for Constitutional Law change and the call for Australians all to unite, to set to rights once and for all historic wrongs and allow all Australians a voice in Parliament in the future of Australia.

The Uluru Statement is not a long document, but in its brevity presents a powerful message and one those Parliamentarians should heed well as First Nations people ‘seek to be heard’!

History, Non Fiction