“We need the Voice to change that. We need the Voice because we need to work in partnership with communities. We need the Voice because we need to do better.”
Influential London-based newspaper The Economist endorsed the Voice to readers this week, saying it would give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders “a say where they still have little”.
“A leg up for them does not mean a leg down for others,” it said in a column.
“What better way, indeed, for a nation to come together than to deal with its greatest unfinished business. And what a blunder it would be to deny Indigenous Australians a fair go.”
Weeks after the latest Closing the Gap report on redressing Indigenous disadvantage showed only four of 19 targets are currently on track, Ms Burney will say Indigenous children are 55 times more likely to die from rheumatic heart disease in 2023.
She will cite data showing Indigenous young people are 24 times more likely to be in prison than non-Indigenous Australians, and that 37 per cent of all children removed from their parents are from First Nations communities.
“Does this mean that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have no aspirations and dreams for a better future? Of course not,” Ms Burney will say.
“This is systemic and structural disadvantage.”
Ms Burney will pay tribute to her friend Michael Riley, a renowned Indigenous photographer who overcame poverty but died of renal failure, aged 44.
“His Aboriginality condemned him to an early death. A preventable death.”
She calls the Voice “nimble, efficient, and focused on making a practical difference”, and said every state and territory and the Torres Strait will be represented.
Liberal frontbencher Paul Fletcher on Tuesday accused Ms Burney of dodging 20 questions about the Voice in parliament last month, saying she had “repeatedly failed to provide details information in her answers”.
Using poor rates of school attendance as an example where the Voice could deliver practical benefits, Ms Burney will say a one-size-fits-all approach to policy development does not work across 1000 Indigenous communities.
“As the minister, when I meet with the Voice for the first time, I will say: ’Bring me your ideas on how to stop our people from taking their own lives. Bring me your ideas on how to help our kids go to school and thrive.
“Bring me your ideas on how we make sure our mob live strong and healthy lives. How we ensure more people have jobs, with the independence and purpose that brings.”
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