The St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia welcomes the passing of legislation to hold a referendum to establish a Voice to Parliament later this year.
'The Society urges all Australians to support this critical reform and to vote 'yes' on referendum day,' said National Deputy President Warwick Fulton.
'A Voice to Parliament will give Indigenous communities a means to inform policy and legal decisions that impact their lives.
'It will also recognise and value the place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia's history,' said Mr Fulton.
The St Vincent de Paul Society is proud to support the Allies for Uluru and has been a long-standing supporter of enshrining a Voice in the Constitution.
We also support the material developed by the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council, the peak advisory body to the Australian Catholic Bishops. Their website, One Journey Together, explains how supporting The Voice aligns with Catholic Social Teaching principles.
'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are over-represented in almost all of our services, reflecting the challenges they experience from historic and contemporary injustices,' Mr Fulton said.
'Government interventions have repeatedly failed because they have been developed without deep listening to First Nations people.
'It is time to listen and to put Indigenous voices at the heart of the Australian Government's policies and programs that impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,' Mr Fulton said.
The St Vincent de Paul Society has supported Australians in need for 190 years.
'We have learnt, sometimes through painful experience, that listening respectfully is fundamental to understanding people and their needs, and to delivering assistance that maintains their dignity and that works,' Mr Fulton said.
'The Voice will be a way to do this on a national scale.
'Enshrining the Voice in the Constitution is so important because it will mean that the Australian people have accepted the generous invitation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart to walk with First Nations people to work towards recognition, reconciliation, and justice,' Mr Fulton said.
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