Statement of Support for the Voice to Parliament

Oceania Province Statement of Support for the Voice to Parliament

The Oceania Province, in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, support and affirm the Statement from the Heart.

Click on the video below to hear directly from the Oceania Province Leadership Team.

The Christian Brothers acknowledge the history of First Nations people who have spoken out to have their Voices heard and to be recognized as the traditional owners of the land we call Australia. We acknowledge the invitation from the 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island leaders who gathered at Uluru in 2017 and asked the Australian community to come on the journey with them and support them with Voice, Truth Telling and Treaty.

We recognize the fact that First Nations people have over 65000 years of spiritual connectedness to this land. We look back and recognize the sad history of dispossession and injustice committed as part of colonization. We see the pain and loss that has led to intergenerational trauma and to fundamental gaps in education, health, housing and other areas of advancement.

We acknowledge that structural racism and injustice still exists and has led to increasing rates of criminalization and deaths in custody as well as on-going racial vilification in sports and in the wider community. As a religious congregation, we support the Call from the Uluru Statement from the Heart that asks for Voice to Parliament. We hear this as part of the long 200-year quest for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island people to be recognized on their own lands and to have a voice to speak to the executive government and to parliament.

We acknowledge the necessity to make representation to government on issues that directly affect them. We need to continue to move towards recognition and reconciliation so as to bring about healing and justice. We support Australia as a nation including First Peoples in the Constitution and we commit to listening to their Voices.

We accept the gracious invitation from the Uluru Statement from The Heart and fully support the Call for a Voice for Indigenous People to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution in the up-coming referendum.