Recently I returned to my hometown in the Kimberley.
After finishing my book, On the Voice to Parliament, it was important to go back to the place that continues to define me as an Aboriginal person.
To take time to be with my family, to be on Country, and to live at a different pace than Sydney demands.
I also took the opportunity, after sharing my perspective and putting a piece of myself into print, to have conversations about the Voice with those who matter most to me.
To ground myself and remind me why I write.
As someone who literally wrote a book on the Voice, you might think that my understanding of the proposal is pretty complete. Yet, every conversation gave me a fuller understanding of how it will benefit local communities. You might also think that I'd be tired of talking about it. Yet the conversations energise me.
Over a beer with an Uncle who was the manager in ATSIC Derby, Geraldton and other towns, I learned how ATSIC had funded Aboriginal Medical Services and community radio networks like 6DBY (my home town's radio station) and Radio Goolari in Broome with substantial success in the early 1990s.
This funding had been directed and executed by Indigenous Australians who knew best what their community needed.
Over cake (carrot and pineapple) with my Mother and Aunt, I hear precisely what their community needs. The kind of wisdom that you only find in local matriarchs.
The Voice is about connecting those executing the policies with the local Aboriginals who know what their community needs.
Empowering us to take ownership as we make progress together.
Over a cuppa with a group of tourists from all over Australia, in Bard country, Lombadina, I talked about how constitutional recognition would benefit all Australians.
Recognition gives all Australians their stake in more than 60,000 years of Indigenous cultural heritage.
Sharing our history and language builds both inter-cultural and intergenerational understanding.
It enriches our modern Australia with the ancient.
Though some of the tourists started out uncertain, some even sceptical, through the conversation, understanding builds.
They start to see the Voice as a benefit for all of us. How it will help us to close the gap in outcomes for Indigenous Australians. How it helps us all build a greater, more unified country.
These conversations illustrate that Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, want the Voice.
Indigenous Australians like my Mum, Aunt and Uncle; because the proposal has come from us. We have asked for this. It's a simple request that will change lives.
Non-Indigenous Australians can take a little longer to get there. This is understandable - they don't live the gap every day.
But when given clean and accurate information about the Voice, through direct conversation, they see that this is a step forward for all of us.
Now the referendum gives a clear path to take this step together as a country.
I encourage all Australians to have conversations in your communities. At the dinner table, at smoko, in the pews or in the stands.
Ensure that the conversation is informed by facts and the experience of Indigenous Australians.
Listen to those that are confused or concerned about the Voice, we must understand their truth.
The great thing about this referendum is that it is a referendum.
It is for all Australians to have their voice heard directly.
Let's use this to seize the opportunity to show the best of our nation.
To use conversation, and a Voice, to build a more whole Australia.
