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Reconciliation is dead. So says Marcia Langton, a key architect of the yes campaign for a First Nations Voice to be enshrined in the constitution. This was her reaction to the loss of the Voice referendum vote. Many commentators have agreed the cause of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians has been set back by this divisive referendum.

Aboriginal pastor Norman Miller, who had a prophetic word over him more than 25 years ago that he is a watchman over the nation in reconciliation, has called for a Reconciliation Roundtable on Thursday 19 October at 7.30pm Sydney time by Zoom and encourages people to contact us (Ph 0466076020) to join in. We need to hear strategies from the Lord on how to unite and heal this nation after this divisive referendum.

We all have the message and ministry of reconciliation, as it tells us in 2 Cor 5:17-19:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

The most important reconciliation is the vertical one between us and Jesus, but there is also a horizontal one between each other. Matthew 5:24 tells us that if someone has something against us, we need to leave our gift at the altar, be reconciled, and then come back and give our gift. This applies whether it is an actual or perceived wrong we have done. We need to apply this to race issues in Australia.

Chance to Restart

Many of the pro-Voice First Nations leaders have reacted by grieving, having flags at half-mast, and going silent for a week to regroup. They are taking it as a rejection of them personally and of their people. We need strategies for how to move on positively, and Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has called for a new way of doing things without coming from a position of grievance. She has also called for First Nations people to work in a bipartisan way to get positive change.

Australia came to a fork in the road on 14.10.23. Would we take the highway of a nation that enshrined a race-based body in our constitution creating unequal citizenship, or take the highway of a united democratic Australia? By voting no to the Voice, more than 60% and all states chose the latter course. Also, many of the seats held by the ALP, including the seats of 14 ministers, voted no.

The ACT, Teal electorates, and the richer electorates had a majority of yes voters, whereas electorates that had a high percentage of First Nations people had a majority of no voters. So, it was clearly not an issue that had the support of a majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The First Peoples vote is not as clear as that, however, for two reasons. Firstly, when polling booths in majority First Peoples communities in northern Australia are taken into account, a clear majority voted for the Voice. Secondly, however, most First Peoples live in the cities and not in remote communities.

The vote is a big blow to the efforts of Prime Minister Albanese, who spent about $450 million on this referendum that could have been spent on improving health, education, housing, etc., on the ground for First Peoples and easing the cost-of-living pressure for many Australians. Albanese was so intent on getting this Voice up as his legacy that he was blind to other issues, including joining world leaders in a quick response to the Hamas massacre of Israelis.

Millions were also spent on the yes campaign by big corporations that would have been better spent Closing the Gap between First Peoples and other Australians. We have a combination of Big Government, Big Name First Nations leaders, Big Business, Big Banks, Big Sports, Big Media, and Big Faith and Multicultural groups who all supported the yes vote by saying they were taking the moral high ground on this issue.

However, the Australian people pushed back against the elites and voted for a united nation not divided by race, and they voted for equal citizenship of Australians. They stood up to the moral intimidation and voted no.

Change Necessary

Whether Australians voted yes or no, it was clear that they wanted Indigenous recognition in the constitution and to improve outcomes to close the gap on the socio-economic disadvantage of First Nations peoples. Senator Price and Warren Mundine have rightly called for re-assessment of the effectiveness of the considerable finances spent to improve outcomes, with only 4 of the 19 outcomes being on track in the Closing the Gap program despite millions spent.

Warren Mundine, who was almost driven to the point of suicide himself by the abuse he received from yes campaigners, lashed out at the kind of questioning he was getting from the media after the vote. He drew attention to the suicides, rape, and distressful situations occurring in First Nations communities, and he said Australians want better outcomes for his people.

The current targets were negotiated between the Coalition of Peaks and the previous coalition government. The Coalition of Peaks represents the many national First Nations organisations, so it is the closest we currently have to a Voice. It has about 80 member organisations. There is no guarantee that a new, expensive Voice in the Constitution would have made a difference in closing the gap.

Australians have great goodwill towards First Nations people. They would have voted for the recognition of First Australians people in the constitution if it had not been conflated with the Voice as a way to do it. What the people of Australia did is to reject the particular model that was put forward.

While there are a few racists in Australia, both in the non-Indigenous and the Indigenous communities, Australia is not a racist nation and has made many important steps to advance the cause of First Nations people.

The Prime Minister has said that he will not legislate a Voice, but he will continue with the other two parts of the Uluru Statement, Treaty and Truth. A Makarrata Commission will be set up, and $900,000 has already been spent on it with no transparency as to how it has been spent.

Queensland had the highest no vote of all the states, but the Queensland Premier has said she will continue with the Path to Treaty and truth-telling. South Australia has already legislated a Voice and will continue with setting it up despite the high no vote in its state. Other states are well down the path of treaty, truth-telling, and a Voice-like body, e.g., the First Peoples’ Assembly in Victoria, which has been running for some time.

As Christians, we need to pray for God’s will in all of this. We have an opportunity now for a change of direction in race relations in Australia, and we need to make it a positive change. I have written a book, Voice Treaty Truth: Has the Christian Voice Been Heard? that will help you navigate this journey.

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