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Elect­ed Coun­cil­lors of the Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of Aus­tralian Jew­ry (ECAJ), the peak rep­re­sen­ta­tive body of the Aus­tralian Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty, have vot­ed over­whelm­ing­ly to sup­port a Yes vote in the upcom­ing ref­er­en­dum to decide whether to alter the Aus­tralian Con­sti­tu­tion to estab­lish an Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander Voice to make rep­re­sen­ta­tions to Par­lia­ment and the Exec­u­tive Gov­ern­ment on mat­ters relat­ing to Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peo­ples.

“The ECAJ was one of the first groups to sup­port the 2017 Ulu­ru State­ment from the Heart in which Australia’s Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peo­ples called for con­sti­tu­tion­al recog­ni­tion of their sta­tus as Australia’s First Nations and for a con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly guar­an­teed First Nations Voice”, said ECAJ Pres­i­dent, Jil­lian Segal.

“There is a clear moral imper­a­tive for con­sti­tu­tion­al recog­ni­tion of Australia’s First Nations”, Ms Segal said. “We recog­nise that there is a range of views in the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty, as in the wider com­mu­ni­ty, about the mer­its and effec­tive­ness of a Voice. Peo­ple have also expressed dif­fer­ent expec­ta­tions about the scope of mat­ters in rela­tion to which the Voice may make rep­re­sen­ta­tions, and the way it will oper­ate and be con­sti­tut­ed, but these details will be decid­ed by the par­lia­ment, and will thus be amenable to leg­isla­tive change in the future, if nec­es­sary.”

“With respect for all dif­fer­ing opin­ions, ECAJ Coun­cil­lors have nev­er­the­less vot­ed to sup­port the ref­er­en­dum to amend the Con­sti­tu­tion as an his­toric step towards jus­tice and rec­on­cil­i­a­tion.”

Ms Segal not­ed the debate about the Voice has tran­scend­ed polit­i­cal and cul­tur­al divides. “Many mul­ti­cul­tur­al and faith com­mu­ni­ties which usu­al­ly align with dif­fer­ent sides of the polit­i­cal spec­trum have unit­ed to sup­port a clear major­i­ty, even though not all, of Australia’s First Nations peo­ple, in back­ing the ref­er­en­dum”, Ms Segal said.

She also referred to “intem­per­ate and inac­cu­rate state­ments made by some of the par­ties sup­port­ing each of the ref­er­en­dum Yes and No cas­es, which have cre­at­ed dis­cord and unnec­es­sary divi­sion with­in Aus­tralian soci­ety”.

“We have called on all par­tic­i­pants in the ref­er­en­dum cam­paign to con­duct the debate on this his­toric issue in a fair, informed and dig­ni­fied man­ner, as befits our great democ­ra­cy.”

Con­tact
Peter Wertheim AM | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8505 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax: 02 9361 5888
e: pwertheim@ecaj.org.au | www.ecaj.org.au