22 October 2023

22 October 2023 To the Prime Minister and every Member of the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Commonwealth Parliament This is an open letter which will be circulated to the Australian public and media. [...] Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags have flown half-mast and we have refrained from media commentary, even as politicians, governments, media commentators and analysts have spent a week exonerating – and indeed, lauding – the nobility of the 60.8 per cent of Australians who voted to reject Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of Au. [...] We feel acutely the repudiation of our peoples and the rejection of our efforts to pursue reconciliation in good faith. [...] The high levels of support for Yes in our communities exposes the No Campaign’s lies, taken up by the media even in the last week of the campaign. [...] The support for the referendum collapsed from the moment Liberal and National Party leaders, Mr Dutton and Mr Littleproud, chose to oppose the Voice to Parliament proposal after more than a decade of bipartisan support.