SA Aboriginal leaders want the community to come together after referendum result

South Australian Aboriginal leaders are calling for the community to learn from the referendum result and come together following the campaign.

None of the state’s federal electorates are currently projected to have voted in favour of establishing a Voice.

Yes campaigner and Adnyamathanha elder Uncle Charles Jackson had hoped constitutional recognition would create reconciliation and unity.

“We’ve got to give everybody the opportunity to express themselves, and unfortunately the end result has been devastating for the First Nations people,” Mr Jackson said.

“I think it’s going to take at least another month or whatever to reflect on this and to find out exactly where we’re going to go from here.”

Mr Jackson said the outcome had made him question whether Australia is going in the right direction for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

“We’ve got to be able to offer that support to each other and make sure that people aren’t being psychologically affected as a result of that,” he said.

“To be told that you’re not accepted would send a very emotional impact not only on the elders, but also the young people too.”

Mr Jackson said he was afraid for the future of South Australia’s state-based Voice to Parliament following the national response. 

“I’m not very confident in terms of having a legislation passed that actually incorporates the First Nations people because unfortunately the opposition can go in there and delete that,” he said. 

“I’d like to think that whatever the outcome of the referendum, South Australia is going to progress,” he said.

Adnyamathanha, Mirning, Kuyani, Kupurn woman Candace Champion said she was concerned that information regarding the Voice was not translated well enough in first languages for remote communities to fully understand what the referendum meant. 

“I think it’s very much setting up to fail, it causes a problem in culturally and linguistically diverse people who are continually put on the back burner,” Ms Champion said.

“We want Indigenous people to be included but don’t use the language that they are required to be able to understand fully and grasp the concept of what we’re trying to achieve as a nation.”

Ms Champion said the past few weeks have “segregated some of the most important people which the issue was about”.

Lack of engagement with younger people

Ms Champion said there was also a lack of engagement with community members in South Australia’s Port Augusta, particularly with young First Nations people who had never voted before.

“I’m not an elder but I am a young adult and I do feel like we should be engaged in this conversation … I feel a little let down from my electorate,” she said.

“There was no engagement, no program, no safe spaces to open up to have a conversation with community members and friends and families around town.

“It does very much feel like a day of mourning today.

“We’re relentless, we’re resilient and we will adapt time and time again … this is a continuation of a fight for justice and equality in this country.”

Adnyamathanha and Kuyani woman Cynthia Webster, who voted Yes, said she felt anxious about having to see other community members who voted against the referendum. 

“I’ve been on leave but I go back to work tomorrow morning. How am I going to face the people that opposed the vote? How do I face them?” Ms Webster said.

“We’ve lost an important opportunity that will never happen again in our lifetime.”

‘Huge divide in the community’

No campaigner and Chairperson Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation, Tim Agius, said people are still coming to terms with the outcome.

“People are gobsmacked, others are celebrating and so I think it’s just time for a reflection to think about what this means for us in the future,” he told the ABC.

“People are saying, more than anything, that it was evident that there was a huge divide in the community between the Yes and No camps.

“It was very divisive and [people] are now talking about how we actually come together to do this better in the future, if there is another opportunity.”

None of South Australia’s ten federal electorates are projected to have voted Yes.

The overhaul result raising concerns among elders that it’s a rejection of Aboriginal Australia. 

“It would appear that to be the case, but I think a lot of people weren’t informed enough or educated enough and made a decision based on their ignorance about us as First Nations people,” Mr Agius said.

“What people are saying is well this is more than 60 per cent of mainstream Australia that voted against the notion.

“How do we work with mainstream Australia to educate them about First Nations history.

“People see it as a loss, but we actually need to learn from this, we need to learn together, come together and work out what we do in the future, together.”

Ngarrindjeri man Grant Rigney said he was really disappointed how the whole process had been politicised.

“I think a lot of our people are hurting at this present time, the damage is going to be hard to decipher,” Mr Rigney said.

“But it doesn’t stop the fight that we need to be actually undertaking here to get our rights recognised and be seen as a leading society in this country.

“We have a lot to offer to the Australian society itself and we’re just really looking to get some real equity in this space.

“It’s difficult when the population of this country doesn’t see that as a pathway forward.”

‘The world is watching’

Mr Rigney said he was also concerned with how Australia would be viewed by others around the world following the referendum result.

“I’m just really disappointed in some of our peoples and the falsehoods of information that’s being given out there,” he said.

“There are individuals who certainly need to have a bit of a check of themselves in these spaces.

“We’re the only first world nation that does not recognise its first peoples within its constitution as human beings in our own country.

“It is an absolute disgrace, and I would think that the international world is watching this space very, very closely.”