A senior Aboriginal health official from Broken Hill in far west New South Wales believes a constitutionally-enshrined First Nations Voice to Parliament will bring issues facing regional communities to national attention.
It comes after Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus introduced a bill to parliament this week that would trigger a referendum on the Voice.
Maari Ma Health Aboriginal Corporation chief executive and Meriam man, Richard Weston, has welcomed the developments.
He said the Voice was "a practical and really important step towards reconciliation" between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.
A far west community governance model already exists in the Murdi Paaki Regional Assembly, comprising 16 community working parties, including one in Broken Hill.
Mr Weston said the forum had been communicating with the government about regional issues since 2004.
"It has improved that conversation and dialogue with government, but I think one of the things [all communities] suffer from out here is we're just not recognised as remote and regional Australia," he said.
"That's what I think the Voice can do, it can elevate the needs of our communities … and hopefully lead to changes in the way policymakers and politicians look at our region."
He said with many far west communities having large Aboriginal populations, a national Voice had the potential to benefit Indigenous and non-Indigenous people through government-driven improvements.
First Nations advocacy organisation Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTAR) also supports Indigenous representation at a state and national level.
National director Paul Wright said most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people his organisation engaged with supported the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which proposed a Voice to Parliament in 2017.
"They want to have their voices heard on the issues impacting them, and I think that's a very simple and reasonable proposition," Mr Wright said.
Mr Wright also said it had been encouraging to see all state and territory governments publicly support a national voice.
He hoped New South Wales would join other jurisdictions in beginning a similar process.
"They have an opportunity at a state level to create the infrastructure and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices in their own jurisdictions that will feed up into a national body," he said.
Questions still remain
The Federal Opposition is yet to publicly support the proposed change to the Constitution, with leader Peter Dutton saying several unanswered questions remain about what implementing a national Voice would mean.
While an official date on the referendum is yet to be announced, Mr Weston, who has previously been part of community engagement informing communities about the Voice, anticipated a public education campaign would soon be released.
He said it was up to the government and people and organisations supporting the Voice to address any public concerns or questions to help people make an informed decision.
"There will be [people] that just are not going to vote 'Yes', no matter what you could give them … they're just opposed to the idea, so they won't be convinced," he said.
"So, it's really trying to get those people who are uncertain and legitimately just want to understand better and have more information."
What form that took, whether it was public consultation, community forums or face-to-face engagement, was yet to be determined.
"There's a lot of work to be done, a lot of conversations to be had (but) it's a great opportunity," Mr Weston said.
