ACSQ first church nationally to officially partner with referendum campaign organisation
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The Anglican Church Southern Queensland is the first church to officially partner with From The Heart, the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament referendum campaign organisation
The Anglican Church Southern Queensland is the first church to officially partner with From The Heart, the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament referendum campaign organisation.
From The Heart stems from the 2017 National Constitutional Convention where the Uluru Statement From the Heart was signed by 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates.
In a recent letter to Archbishop Phillip Aspinall and Anglican Church Southern Queensland (ACSQ) General Manager Tim Reid, the From The Heart team thanked our Diocesan community for their support.
“We would like to express our gratitude for the leadership shown by yourselves and the wider Anglican Church Southern Queensland, especially the Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group chaired by Uncle Canon Bruce Boase, in supporting the From the Heart campaign,” the letter said.
“The Anglican Church Southern Queensland is the first Church nationally to donate to and officially partner with us.
“Thank you for being trailblazers in the Reconciliation space.”
The Anglican Church Southern Queensland and Anglicare Southern Queensland logos are the latest additions to the “Our Partners” section on the “Our people” page of From The Heart’s website.
In the ACSQ’s 2021-2023 Reconciliation Action Plan, our Diocese declared its support for the Anglican Board of Mission’s 2017 call for a constitutionally entrenched First Nations Voice.
As a tangible response to this, Diocesan Council approved the ACSQ becoming an official partner of From The Heart in April this year.
The Indigenous Voice to Parliament included in the Constitution is the first of the Uluru Statement’s two key reforms.
Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Working Group Chair and Wakka Wakka Elder The Rev’d Canon Bruce Boase said that the seminal Statement “is a gift”.
“The Uluru Statement From the Heart is a gift to all Australians – a roadmap to fairness,” Canon Boase said.
“So by voting ‘yes’, Australians will take another meaningful step forward towards Reconciliation because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples will then be properly heard on matters that directly concern them.”
Various commissions of the ACSQ pooled $13,000 in donations for the campaign to help cover education, awareness and wage costs, with the bulk of the funds provided by Anglican schools.
Executive Director of the Anglican Schools Commission Sherril Butterworth said that Anglican schools are proud to support the Uluru Statement’s reforms, including the Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution.
“We now look back with pride on the 1967 Referendum when over 90 per cent of Australians voted ‘yes’ to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders being counted in the population and the Commonwealth, rather than merely states, being able to pass laws for them,” Ms Butterworth said.
“Like the wonderful 1967 Referendum result, I look forward to our First Peoples benefitting when the Referendum on the Voice is passed, especially with regard to education and health outcomes.”
The Voice has the support of all 144 Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations, which operate more than 300 clinics across metropolitan, regional and remote areas.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing worker and Saibai Elder Aunty Dr Rose Elu said that a Constitutional guarantee is necessary to close the health and life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
“A successful referendum is critical if we wish to see fair, practical and lasting change at the grassroots in our communities,” Aunty Dr Rose said.
“Time and time again it is shown that merely legislating change is not enough – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples need the certainty of a Constitutional guarantee, especially across changes of government.
“As a social worker and Elder, I see firsthand on a daily basis how important it is that we close the significant health and life expectancy gap.
“I know that when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a genuine say on issues that affect them, we get much better results on the ground.”
Aunty Dr Rose is also a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council and the ACSQ RAP Working Group, as well as a former Queensland Senior Australian of the Year.
The Voice to Parliament will be groundbreaking for Queensland’s regional and remote communities.
The state’s 77 local government councils, more than 65 of which cover regional and remote areas, have passed a motion in support of the Uluru Statement’s reforms.
Most of the nearly 250 delegates who signed the Uluru Statement From the Heart live in, and represent, regional and remote areas across Australia.
Executive Director of Anglicare Southern Queensland and registered nurse Sue Cooke said that the Voice will ensure that legislation passed by Parliament will deliver comprehensive health solutions.
“Anglicare Southern Queensland has always supported elevating the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and our support of the Uluru Statement From the Heart is an example of our commitment to social justice for the families and young people we work with and serve,” Mrs Cooke said.
“As a healthcare provider, Anglicare also acknowledges the evidence that tells us health is closely linked to social, economic, cultural and historic factors, and supporting the Statement will lead to health legislation that meets the needs of, and improves the health of, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.”
Church leaders, both locally and nationally, are encouraging faith communities to talk about the Voice and the forthcoming referendum.
Archbishop Phillip Aspinall said that supporting the Voice is a significant step towards Reconciliation and unity for all Australians.
“100 years ago when Anglicans and Roman Catholics really first began conversations towards unity, Cardinal Mercier said something along these lines: ‘we cannot unite unless we first love on another; and we cannot love one another unless we first know one another; and we cannot know one another unless we first meet together and listen deeply’,” Archbishop Aspinall said.
“These simple yet profound words apply to unity and Reconciliation in Australia.
“Of course, how the Voice will operate will be clarified.
“At root though this is about heart and spirit – I pray the ‘Voice’ will help us listen more deeply to one another, that we might truly know one another and come to love one another. Then unity will be possible.
“This deep listening is important because the Voice to Parliament will provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs and initiatives with stability and longevity, especially across election cycles and changes of government.”
General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia Liz Stone said that Christian churches and other faith communities nationally are actively supporting the Voice.
“On the fifth anniversary of the Uluru Statement From the Heart, 27 May 2022, I worked to gather leaders of Australia’s religious organisations to sign a joint resolution of support for the Statement,” Ms Stone said.
“This public gesture was not symbolic – the joint resolution is a statement of intentional action signalling our support for the coming referendum on the Voice to Parliament with education and opening our spaces for discussion and listening.”
Archbishop Phillip Aspinall made a formal submission on behalf of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland in support of the Voice last year.
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