“The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation from First Nations to “walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.”
The five-year Australian Province Apostolic Plan (2019-2024) Mission in Hope calls for five priorities. The second priority is to ‘heal humanity and the world’.
In line with this priority, The Bookends Project invites those across Australian Jesuit ministries to make a submission in support of The Uluru Statement from The Heart. The statement calls for a First Nations Voice to Parliament to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution by way of a enabling provision.
“The voice to parliament would be a representative body giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a say in law and policy affecting them. Enshrined in the constitution, it would become an institution of lasting significance for First Nations and all Australians.” – ulurustatement.org
The statement was first issued to the Australian people in May 2017 following almost two years of work. Fr Frank Brennan SJ was one of three non-Indigenous Australians to serve on the 18-member Senior Advisory Group chaired by Marcia Langton and Tom Calma to propose a design for the Indigenous Voice. The report to government is available here.
The Bookends Project would like to encourage individuals and groups, schools and parishes to make submissions from now until 31 March 2021.
It is a critical time in the journey of getting a constitutionally enshrined First Nations Voice to Parliament.
Making a submission in support of The Uluru Statement from the Heart is ‘faith doing justice’; this is a call to action.
Submission guidelines are available HERE.
Other public submissions are viewable HERE.
For any further information, contact Hannah Welch at hannah.welch@sjasl.org.au