Psychiatrist Patrick McGorry says his fear of “tremendous damage” to mental health if the Indigenous voice to parliament is rejected by voters drove him to spearhead an open letter from two dozen former Australian of the Year winners backing the change.
The letter has the support of Dylan Alcott, Rosie Batty, Taryn Brumfitt, Rob de Castella, Mick Dodson, Peter Doherty, John Farnham, Tim Flannery, Cathy Freeman, Adam Goodes, Evonne Goolagong, Shane Gould, Richard Harris, Grace Tame and others, as well as the former chair of the Australia Day Council, Adam Gilchrist.
The letter in support of the Indigenous voice urges Australians to “choose the high road to inclusiveness and respect … The low road leads us into a shameful dead end, with unimaginable consequences for our national identity and self-respect”.
“It is not about giving one community an advantage but about reducing a severe and unacceptable level of disadvantage and discrimination. A Yes vote is a step to a more united and cohesive nation, conscious of the past and looking together to the future.”
McGorry, the director of Orygen Youth Health and the 2010 Australian of the Year in recognition of his work on youth mental health, said the concept of the voice would help address issues in Indigenous communities.
“I know from decades of working with young people that you can’t solve problems without listening and you can’t hear people without a voice,” he said.
“We have excluded Indigenous views from decisions that affect them for far too long, and now is a rare moment in history when we can come together as a nation, do the right thing and say yes to the simple request that Australia recognises its first peoples and gives them a voice.”
The letter, signed by the Australian of the Year winners, states “the effective exclusion of Indigenous voices from decision-making has been at best useless and costly and, at worst, damaging, blocking any meaningful progress”.
Dodson said current life outcomes for many Indigenous people were “the shameful results of not being heard.”
“A voice will finally mean that we’ll get a say in the policies and laws that affect us and that’s the best chance we have to start closing the gap,” he said.
Goodes said: “We’ve got major problems at the grassroots level and to tackle them we need grassroots solutions. And we’ll only get that by voting yes to the voice.”
McGorry told Guardian Australia that the signatories to the letter were “enthusiastic” to support the voice as community champions coming from many walks of life.
“They’re not all elites, many are just ordinary people,” he said. “I think it says something – Australian of the Year is a popular and respected role, they have some influence.”
after newsletter promotion
McGorry, born in Ireland, said he came to Australia in 1968, just a year after the historic 1967 referendum on Indigenous rights which allowed the federal government to make laws about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and for them to be counted in the census.
He said Australia had “come an awful long way since then”.
“This country can become a lot better. This is a massive opportunity to right some wrongs,” McGorry said of Saturday’s referendum.
“It’s also motivated me as a mental health professional. There would be tremendous damage done if it was a no vote. I think it’s also about self-respect for non-Indigenous people, I think we would lose respect … the stakes are enormous.”
The open letter supports the right of Indigenous people to “have a genuine say in matters that impact on their lives”.
“A yes vote in this referendum represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure inclusion and respect, to empower, to make long overdue progress towards closing the gap, and to finally bring all of us together as Australians on a level playing field,” it states.