From the Uluru Statement to the Voice referendum: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advocacy for constitutional change in Australia, 2017-2023

Thesis

In May 2017, a National Constitutional Convention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a sweeping declaration of their vision for change. The near-consensus achieved at the Convention surprised many, as did its proposal for a constitutionally protected Indigenous Voice to Australian Parliament. In October 2023, after years of Indigenous lobbying and campaigning, Australia held its first referendum vote in a generation, on the Voice proposal. The period from 2017 to 2023 saw a critical phase of Indigenous advocacy. In this thesis, I explore how the Uluru Statement came to be, how and why Indigenous Australian people advocated for constitutional change, and what it means for Australia’s legal future.

My method is qualitative, based on 73 interviews with Indigenous participants across Australia: 43 who had been present at the Convention, and 30 who had been involved in constitutional advocacy in other ways. As the first study of this kind, it reveals the striking solidarity at the heart of Australian Indigenous advocacy, and the deep concerns about culture and long-term justice which drive collaboration and shared goals despite a high degree of diversity and political difference among advocates. It demonstrates how, even when questions of politics, compromise, and trust threatened to pull them apart, participants rallied around shared identity, cultural norms, and visions for a just future, showing commitment to collective action alongside fundamental difference. These shared visions go beyond the Voice proposal, and sometimes even against it. They offer ideas not only for Australia’s constitution, but for what constitutes Australia, and for how Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples can walk together. They present lessons for Indigenous studies, for Australian politics, and for all people who seek balance in our diverse world.

Authors: Dahl, M

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-qzx4mxajp
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Voice Referendum; Australian Indigenous rights; constitutional change advocacy; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs; Uluru Statement from the Heart
• Subjects: Indigenous peoples; Human rights advocacy; Anthropology; Socio-Legal Studies; Constitutional law; Cultural relations; Constitutional conventions