Patrick Dodson: 'No takes you nowhere', National Press Club speech before Voice referendum - 2023

11 October 2023, (from Broome videolink), National Press Club, Canberra, Australia

But what drives me is the ongoing injustice that I see, the out of home placements of our kids, the high levels of incarceration, the high levels of suicide that we see amongst our young people. The awful living conditions and poverty that I see, the lack of hope that I see in the streets in my own hometown, in Broome, the awfully frustrating changes that are needed in the criminal justice system and the so-called benefits that we should be enjoying are not being delivered. And that's what drives me. So we need to change. We need to have an effective voice to the Parliament. We need to have recognition as the First Peoples. You can't live in your own country and not be recognised. And that's the challenge for us as Australians. After the vote on October the 14th, people are going to have to look in the mirror and say, what have we done? And why have we done what we did? And where's it going to take us?

And we can look backwards and we can look at the history. I won't go back to Captain Cook and his instructions, but I'll go back to the Day of Mourning 1938, when Mr. Cooper and Ferguson and Patton and Pearl Gibbs and many others, Sir Doug Nicholls and others, all gathered at Latreuse and threw a wreath into the ocean at that time, in acknowledgement of the way that Aboriginal people were being treated by the settlers. But out of that came the positive request that Mr. Cooper put to the Prime Minister Lyons — that there ought to be someone in the federal parliament that looked after the affairs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. That never happened, of course, because in 1938 there was no clear head of power that the Commonwealth had any responsibility for the Aboriginal people. That came in '67 when the Australian people voted overwhelmingly in support of a change to our constitution that made it clear that the Commonwealth could make laws for the Aboriginal people, including every other race of people under Section 51 (xxvi).

So what drives me is the need for us to acknowledge the Aboriginal peoples as the First Peoples. Not that they have special privileges, but there are injustices that have to be fixed, as a consequence of the settlement that has taken place and the way in which that settlement has happened.

We know from our high court, our own High Court in Australia, that made it clear that the legal fiction of Terra Nullius was a lie, deliberately constructed to dispossess and displace the Aboriginal people, and enable governments of the day to use us as the play tools for their particular purposes.

Now, what drives me is to stop that nonsense, to give the Aboriginal people their voice so that they can also take responsibility for the direction of the future. And we're seeing that some of that direction is to be participants in the society.

This is not about separatism, this is not about elitism. It's not about special privileges. It's about being able to navigate the course under our direction and under our judgement and under our responsibilities and our accountabilities. That's what's being asked for. And we ask the Australian people, the decent good people in this country — and that's all Australians, I'm not separating anyone out here — all Australian people, to support the simple proposition, a very humble proposition, to create the recognition of the Aboriginal people in the Constitution and to give them an instrument, a voice, a body through which they can say to the parliament and to the executive what the concerns are and what the ways forward are, for us to go.

Because we're bogged down in a culdesac of going nowhere at the moment. We know that from the Closing the Gap statistics and all the other social indicators, we're going nowhere. And the No campaign wants us to stay there. We can't afford to stay there because that doesn't take the country forward. It doesn't redress the serious problems that the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander peoples live under every day of the week.

Anna Henderson
A question about Deaths in Custody Royal Commission

Senator Patrick Dodson
[Dodson attempts to answer this diversionary question , then gets back to it]
But today, we're not talking about the Royal Commission. Today, we're talking about the referendum. Today we're talking about a vote that the Australian people will cast a very important vote, the most significant vote they're going to make for a very long time on this matter. And that vote will determine what we as a nation are going to stand for. What are we going to stand for in relation to the First Peoples of this country? And how you cast your vote is terribly important. And then on the day after, have a look in the mirror and ask yourself, how's this going to impact your kids and yourself going forward? Are we going to go forward? Are we going to go backwards? Or are we going to cop more of the same? Are the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander people going to be at the table? Or are they going to be picking up the crumbs as we have been for the last 200 years? So are we going to be at the table making decisions, or picking up crumbs that fall off the table of those that make decisions about us

Anna Henderson:
When we travel around the country. Speaking to people who are undecided, one of the key cut through messages that they have taken in from this campaign is lack of detail. 'We don't know', they say, 'what we are voting on'. Do you think it would've been easier if draught legislation could have been put forward? And can you explain that decision-making process and why there isn't more detail behind the question and the pages of information that have been provided so far?

Senator Patrick Dodson:
Well, the constitution is about principle. It's about principles that parliaments or governments use to make legislation upon. And if their legislation is not acceptable to the public, or some section of the public, they have a right to challenge that in the court. Now, you don't put detail in the Constitution. And so what we are talking about in this referendum is putting a principle, the principle of recognising the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples, and then a principle that allows them to have a voice that makes recommendations. It doesn't bind the Parliament, it doesn't control the funds, it doesn't set up the programmes. It simply gives advice to the executive and to the parliament on the better ways to do things with the public funds that are put towards programmes and other factors.

Now, if you want to walk away from that, then you're left with the hands of the politicians making the decisions. You're left with the bureaucrats determining and deciding how the lives of Aboriginal people are going to be controlled. And you're left to the whim and fancies of the greatest lobbyists around the country that want to determine how their futures are going to be lived out in this country.

Anna Henderson:
The debate and the tenor of debate has been divisive, at times racist, and it has caused a lot of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who've stepped forward to promote a yes campaign personal hardship because of the way they've been treated in the public discourse. You've been watching all of that. What do you make of it?

Senator Patrick Dodson:
Well, it saddens me. It seriously does sadden me that that division and acrimony has crept into the debate. But what further worries me is this goes to the very fabric of our civil exchanges as a democratic nation. This is not just about the Aboriginal referendum here. This is about the nature of our civic society. This is about how the polity of our country is governed and run, and this will affect us, into the future, as the modus operandi of what and who is accountable in the way they conduct public discourse. And that's the bigger worry. And most people haven't woken up to that as yet, I don't think, because it's so obfuscated in the process.

But it does worry me that there's no baseline here. This is run through social media. You can say anything. It's deemed to be truth. It seen to be of value. There's no weighting of the arguments. There's no real analysis of the arguments. There's no historical dimension, there's no acceptance of history. There's no acknowledgement of the legacy that history has created. There are consequences from colonisation. There are serious consequences.

Anna Henderson:
Well, let's address that because at the National Press Club, it was the Shadow Minister for indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who said on that platform she didn't think there were negative impacts from colonisation. What's your response to her view?

Senator Patrick Dodson:
Well, I look to the serious social dislocation on many of the social indicators that Aboriginal people now sit in. Now, if we were in the promised land that some people might want to suggest we're in, then why are we having such high rates of suicides? Why are we having so many of our kids being taken away and put into out of home care? Why is there so much domestic violence and internal violence within our societies? Why are we living in poverty? Why are we still suffering from mental health problems? And why are our kids the victims of drug and alcohol opportunities that society offers? So we're not in the Garden of Eden here. These are the consequences of how we came to be colonised and they have to be dealt with. And so the benefits that have come through civilization, or through colonisation ... are well and good, they're good things. No one's denying them. But there are legacy issues, and responsibility and accountability issues, for how you've taken someone else's country, and subjugated them to the policies that you have. Assimilation, control, management domination, determination of their futures, taking kids away, stolen generations, all of those things have consequences from the first point of taking their lands and subjugating them to the policies of government — to achieve the objective, which is the benefits that the society now enjoys.

Anna Henderson:
When the National Party came out very clearly and said they would be campaigning for a No vote, and then the Liberal Party followed and said very clearly they would be campaigning for a No vote. With your deep understanding of the history of constitutional change in this country, at that point in the process, did you ever think it would be better to hold back and not proceed with this referendum now,

Senator Patrick Dodson:
I paused for a moment because I thought, well, yes, that'd be something to do. But then I said, well, this question of recognition goes back well before my time. It goes back to the leaders that I've admired, Vincent Lingiari, the Mr. Coopers, Mr. Ferguson, Patten, Pearl Gibbs, Doug Nicholls, the Pilbara Strikers. It goes back a long way, of struggle for recognition. And I've been party to, and I've had the privilege to be on committees where we've tried to grapple with this. I chaired the Reconciliation Council for six years of its existence, trying to find common ground. I worked with the wonderful. deceased now, Rick Farley — trying to find common ground between aboriginal people and pastoralists and many other industry groups, miners and others.

So the importance of recognising the First Peoples in this country is significant for the nation. It's a significant matter for the nation, not just for the Aboriginal people. And that's what people are going to have to ask themselves on the 15th of October, Have we dealt with this legacy issue of denying the First Peoples of this country or have we actually owned up to it, and have we acknowledged that? And therefore, we're not going to bequeath, we're not going to hand that legacy onto our future generations. We're going to put a stop to that lie, and we're going to set down a new foundation upon which we can build

Anna Henderson:
At this point in time, looking at the polls over a long period now and the trend which suggests that this referendum is very likely to end in a No vote, what is your reaction to that and what hope do you see over the next couple of days of actually changing minds?

Senator Patrick Dodson:
Well, we've got a section in the Constitution now, which sets up the process that we're going through, the referendum process — that is the majority of voters in a majority of states. I'll wait until the Australian people make their mind and their wishes clear. I'm not going to be ruled by polls, If we want to be governed by polls and why would we have a government? We just run a poll poll straw and decide how we're going to work and live. Now, I think the Australian people and there are many of them, that are still to vote, and I'd encourage them to vote Yes in this referendum. There's nothing to fear here. There's only good to come out of this. There's a vision to come out of this and there's hope to come out of this. So the truth of our integrity as a nation is what's at stake here, the truth of that.

And we will need to face up to that on the 15th of October, once we know what the outcome is. I'm confident that we are able to get sufficient votes and a sufficient number of the states to get us across the line. I don't believe in the polls. I was in the Opposition when Bill Shorten was the leader and we thought we were going to win government. And of course, we got the biggest hiding possible and we never went anywhere. So polls tell you lies and don't believe them. If you're fearful about the confusion, vote Yes. Don't vote No because No takes you nowhere.

Sally Sitou: ''Good governments change lives. I know because they changed mine", First speech - 2022

1 August 2022, Canberra, Australia

This month is a special month for my family. My parents are celebrating 40 years of being Australian citizens. There is a beautiful serendipity about today—that I am now standing in this chamber as a member of parliament on the 40th anniversary of my parents' Australian citizenship. This moment here is surreal, in the best way possible—that one could dare to dream this big. For this was an improbable candidacy. Being elected into our federal parliament is a big deal, but it's an even bigger deal for my parents. They fled their homeland, fearful of what might happen to them because of who they were and the values they held. Even after arriving here they continued to carry that fear, not wanting to talk about politics, not wanting to share their views. And here they are, in the public gallery, watching their daughter speak in our federal parliament.

So you can imagine what this means for them: how much they've come to embrace the best of this country—our freedoms to speak out, to hold a faith and to build the life we want, and our responsibilities to those around us so that we may all prosper together. I marvel at how much has changed for my family in just one generation. That is the power of the Australian story, because stories like mine are possible only in countries like Australia. I am the daughter of migrants, a proud Chinese-Lao Australian. I grew up in Cabramatta in south-west Sydney. I'm the product of good public education. And now I'm the federal member for Reid.

I stand here on the land of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and I represent an area that is the land of the Wangal people. Australia is home to the oldest continuing culture in the world, the significance of which should never be diminished. The culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders has endured for more than 65,000 years, in all its richness and diversity. They were our first scientists, philosophers, teachers and bakers. They nurtured this land. We ought to celebrate the culture of Australia's First Nations people, acknowledge their rightful place as the traditional and first custodians of this land. We ought to enshrine their voice in our Constitution, and I want to be part of a parliament that does that.

For the sake of future generations, we must do more than pay our respects to their elders past, present and future. We ought to learn from them, continue their care of country and ensure that their culture remains the oldest living culture in the world. First Nations people have gifted us a tradition of custodianship: the idea that we are all here in service of others and must leave this country better than when we found it. When I acknowledge country I'm reminded that I am but a small addition to a long and continuing history. I am a custodian for the present so that future generations may also care for this country.

I stand here as the member for Reid, and I want to acknowledge the members who came before: my predecessor, Dr Fiona Martin, an advocate for improving mental health support; and thank you to former members John Murphy and Mary Eeasson for generously sharing their wisdom with me. To the people of Reid, thank you for trusting me to be your representative. This is a community I love. It's a wonderful microcosm of multicultural Sydney, imbued with the customs of migrants from around the world. They, too, enriched us with cultures and traditions that make our community stronger. I stand in this institution, as their representative, aware of the weight of responsibility, because it is in this institution that decisions are made that have a profound impact on people's lives. I know this not as an intellectual exercise; I know this because decisions made here have recharted the course of my family's story and the stories of so many Australians.

In 1977, then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser developed Australia's first comprehensive refugee policy. He may have been in a different political party to me, but on this I believe he was on the right side of history. He welcomed refugees fleeing Indochina following the Vietnam War, and one year later, in 1978, he welcomed my parents. My family is of Chinese heritage, but my parents were born and raised in Laos. They fled their homeland and were incredibly lucky Australia gave them refuge. When my parents came here, they had limited formal education and spoke very little English. They worked hard in factories, where they were able to find secure work with good conditions. They gave my brother and me the work and education opportunities they never had, and my family was able to thrive here. I went on to have the most incredible career, working in international development in the Asia-Pacific and then in international education.

As I reflect on my family's story—a story shared by so many Australians—I also need to reflect on the journey we as a country have travelled to get to this point, because it wasn't an easy journey. Charting through the decisions that have shaped our country, it's important to remember that for much of our history the path on which we walked was not towards multiculturalism but towards a White Australia policy. It was a path that said there was no place in this country for people like me. It was a path that denied our First Nations people their identity, land and kin. Those decisions were made based on fear and a failure of imagination. But we were able to fulfil the potential and promise of Australia when leaders in this place were driven not by fear but by hope and compassion. They looked around and saw what was and imagined what could be. They imagined a country not weakened by diversity but strengthened by it.

In more recent history, when it looked like fear might again overtake imagination, Prime Minister Bob Hawke said in this place:

One of the great and rare distinctions of Australian political leadership in the last generation has been its bipartisan rejection of race as a factor in immigration policy. This has been a triumph of compassion over prejudice, of reason over fear, and of statesmanship over politics.

It was an appeal to turn to the better angels of our nature, and turn we did. In just over half a century, we have moved from an embrace of a White Australia policy to a country that is now a majority-migrant nation. But what is more remarkable is how this news was received—not with backlash but with a genuine embrace of modern Australia. And there is no better display of that than in our federal parliament.

As I look around the House today, it feels like finally it is starting to live up to its name—a House made up of people who truly reflect and represent the communities in which they live. I believe it was important I put my hand up to stand for Reid, a thriving multicultural and multifaith community, because, as audacious as this dream was—to run for our federal parliament—it has never been more important for someone like me to dream it. I grew up watching Home and Away and Neighbours, but I also grew up with a slight unease, not sure of who I was, not sure if I'd gone to the right schools and acutely aware of the postcode I grew up in—not sure of my place in this country. That's why I think it's important to have someone like me in our federal parliament, not for diversity's sake but because representatives that embody all of the Australian story make our parliament better and our democracy stronger.

I speak about my family's story because it is core to who I am. It's what shaped me and the values I want to bring to our parliament. It also connects me to my community. The men on the factory floor in Silverwater remind me of my dad, who worked in an automotive factory for 35 years. Religious leaders who fled their homelands because of persecution—their stories remind me of my own family fleeing their homeland. Parents talk to me about wanting to give their kids good-quality education. It's the same desire I have for my son and the same desire my parents had for me. When I encounter racism and prejudice, I know firsthand how it corrodes our community and holds Australia back from being the best country we can be. And this is a message I'm going to share with all young Australians: you are not defined by your postcode, the school you went to or where your parents came from; in this country, you are defined by the content of your character and what you want to do for others, where the potential and promise of this nation is only limited by our imagination.

On 21 May this year we faced another key turning point in our nation's history: do we continue on with another decade of inaction on climate change or do we imagine a better future for our kids? It was, again, an appeal to turn to the better angels of our nature, and turn we did. We chose care for country and future generations over fear. In the six short years my son has been alive, he has experienced the consequences of climate change, events described as 'once in a generation' experienced in just a few short years. He has now lived through the 2019-2020 New South Wales bushfire season, a once-in-a-generation event. This year he lived through a once-in-a-generation rain and flooding event and now heatwaves breaking records across Europe, all once-in-a-generation events. Surely we can no longer look at the situation before us and believe this is okay. Surely we cannot say to my son and his generation that what we are doing to address climate is enough. Surely it is time to be audacious dreamers and imagine a better way. It is time for us all to learn from our continent's First Nations people and take on roles as custodians of country. The policies and decisions and values of governments matter. The decisions made today matter for our generation, my son's generation and generations to come.

Good governments change lives. I know because they changed mine. Former Prime Minister Paul Keating said education provided the keys to the kingdom because it unlocks opportunities for all. I was fortunate enough to have teachers who not only guided me through my academic life but also taught me about life outside the classroom—teachers like Craig Cantor, who volunteered to take six year 8 kids camping. It was the first time I'd pitched a tent and slept under the stars, and I loved it. My history teacher, Frank Federico, taught me that progress, while not always linear or guaranteed, was possible if there were enough brave people willing to stand up for what's right. I didn't just get an academic education; I got an education in life. And that is the power of education.

But we have lost sight of that in our current education system. We have failed to value our teachers. After 2½ years of COVID, our teachers are exhausted, and yet we've never asked more of them. We need to radically overhaul the administrative burden we place on our teachers. They should have more time doing what they love: teaching. We need to value them and finally pay them what they are worth. Sometimes we have even failed to provide our students with the most basic infrastructure. There is a school in my electorate where the toilets are so terrible students elect to drink less water to avoid going. There is a community in my electorate who have waited so long for a promised high school the kids are now at university. Our concept of education, too, needs an update. It doesn't start in kindergarten. We should instead think about education as starting from birth. Our early childhood educators are as vital to educating our kids as our primary and high school teachers and university lecturers are.

We have allowed our university and TAFE sectors to languish, and, worse still, the previous government actively undermined tertiary education. They oversaw the most job losses the sector has ever seen—estimates of around 12,000 jobs lost in the higher education sector because of the pandemic. And the sad irony is that it was our university researchers we relied on to help us manage the pandemic: epidemiologists, virologists, public health experts. But it's not just applied research that matters. We also need research in our arts, mathematics and basic science to be valued, because they provide the essential foundations for all future applications. If we can get this right, there is a kingdom that awaits us all, one made up of highly skilled and fulfilling jobs, an economy that is productive and makes the most of our talents and where imagination is valued.

My parents were laser focused on ensuring my brother and I had a good education. They had to be, because their life in Australia was precarious—they did not have the comfort of being able to fail. We were lucky, though, because we had two communities supporting us. The Chinese-Lao-Australian community were like my big extended family, because I always had a collection of aunts and uncles watching over me. It's a resilient community, too. We've had to be, because we've spent two generations searching for a place to call home, and now we've finally found it.

The second community who supported us was the mighty trade union movement. When my dad was injured at work, it was his union that stepped in to help negotiate a new role that would accommodate his injury. When the company my mum worked for went insolvent, it was her union that stepped in to make sure she got her entitlements. I want to thank the union movement. You stood by my parents when they came to this country, just as you stand with all working people who want a better life. I acknowledge and thank all the union representatives present in the gallery here tonight.

During the campaign I had the great privilege of meeting dedicated people who work to make our local area a community. I met Vicki Liubinskas, who started Let's Get Going because she wanted to ensure that adults with disabilities were able to exercise in a fun and safe way. I met Paula Nicolas from St Merkorious Charity. She gives people who are homeless dignity and respect by inviting them in for a hot meal and fellowship. I met the Wentworth Point Residents Action Group—a group of determined locals who got together to make their voices heard and advocate for local infrastructure in their community. These are people in Reid who looked around at what was and imagined what could be. They imagined a community where we were supporting each other, and I am inspired by their example and am determined to continue their good work.

Throughout my campaign I had the support of volunteers who were committed to creating a better future for this country. They stood beside me and made me believe it was possible. They were my campaign community. It's thanks to them that I am the federal member for Reid.

I want to pay tribute to the Australian Labor Party, a movement I joined when I was young and idealistic. I am older now but no less idealistic. To Kevin Rudd, Maxine McKew, Jason Li and Linda Voltz, thanks for the frequent special guest appearances on the campaign trail. There are many in this House I have admired for so long. That I now get to call you colleagues and friends brings me sheer delight. I want to thank the members for Watson, McMahon, Greenway, Chifley, Sydney, Kingsford Smith and Cowan for your support throughout the campaign. Thank you to Senators O'Neill and Sheldon for your generous help. To Senator Wong, thank you—not just for your guidance but for the leading example you have provided to me and so many others. And to my old boss, the member for Blaxland, you bring a level of decency, respect and empathy that I hope to emulate. To the Prime Minister, thank you for bringing compassion back into fashion.

The audacity of this dream was only possible because of three people. They believed in me long before I believed in myself: Jodi McKay, Kirsten Andrews and Dom Ofner. To the campaign team—Mitch Wright, Emma Ross, Ed Saloman, Louise Tran, Jacqueline Price, Phillip Kim, John McManus and LJ Margeit—you were the engine room of this campaign, making it all possible. To Greg and Felicity Davis, Karen Pensabene, Kym Ralley, Jacqui Thorburn, Tom Hore and Susan Yates, thank you for looking out for me and for your continuing support. To all the wonderful women associated with Asian Women at Work, particularly their drumming group and the Sydney Chinese Drum Art Troupe, thank you for helping me connect with my community. To all my Labor family in local government, our mayors and councillors, and to all the branch secretaries, presidents, local branch members and volunteers, you kept the light on the hill shining brightly. I will carry that passion for a better tomorrow with me every day.

I'm lucky to have an incredible family. My brother, Law; sister-in-law, Sharon; and niece, Haegan: it has been such a comfort knowing you are always there for us. To my parents-in-law, Shounan and Jian: thank you for your continuing support and love. To my parents, Phet and Syphan: for the sacrifices you have made, the love you give and the inspiration you have provided, thank you. To the two people who have been my biggest cheerleaders in life, my husband, Rui; and my son, Max: you are my reason for being, and I love you both.

I want to dedicate my first speech to my ama, my maternal grandmother. She was the most remarkable woman. Ama was a widower and a single mother of eight. She had to uproot her life twice, first from China to Laos and then from Laos to Australia. I think about her often because so much of her life happened to her. She had very few choices. She didn't get to choose a career or even where to live. The last photo I have with her is on the dance floor at my wedding in Laos. Ama stayed on in Laos after the wedding, choosing to spend her final years there. It was one of the few choices she had an opportunity to make. It's because of her and the sacrifices she has made that my life was possible, where a world of opportunities has been unlocked for me. I have been able to make choices about what I want to study and what career I want to pursue, and the choice to stand for parliament. While we still have some ways to go before we achieve gender equality, when I think about how different my life is compared to Ama's, I know we're on the right path. If my ama were with us today, I think she would have been astounded but very proud too.