Australian holiday time is upon us, but it’s still Post Voice Referendum Season in the quixotic Land of Oz. Like poor old Don Quixote, have we been tilting at windmills? Or are the scary threats that were raised in the last stages of the Referendum debate, real? Over 6 million Aboriginal Elders and theif allies battled to win this Referendum to create a better future for Australia. The 43 minutes of mainstage choral music I composed to promote the Uluru Statement from the Heart, that was toured to Canberra, Sydney, Parramatta, Newcastle and Wollongong in October 2022, and awarded a $25.000 grant by the Australia Arts Council for a second 2023 tour, was my contribution to this huge effort.

In the week following the Referendum, I listened to a great post-Referendum analysis from Aboriginal lawyer Teela Reid, broadcast on the ABC’s Minefield podcast. I share Teela’x heartbreak at what could have been. But what can now be done? We elect Members of Parliament to represent us, and legislate to defend and protect the interests, concerns and welfare of Australia’s citizens. But no one in the Australian Parliament has yet provided adequate, timely responses to the urgent concerns raised by the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart proposals and eleven elected Australian Aboriginal MPs, or proposed fair, just legislation related to them, that would enact remedies for Aboriginal concerns, or enforce rigorous debate about essential structural reforms needed to maintain the rule of law and defend First Nations communities from ongoing oppression and criminal attacks. Elected Australian politicians have a duty to formulate, write, propose and enact effective legislation that maintains just laws and community peace, and penalises crimes against Australian people. If they don’t these concerns will be raised and remedied by international law courts.

In the remaining months of war torn 2023, I’m taking time to recover from the predictable factionalism that arose when Australia’s majority non-Indigenous electorate was asked to decide whether to authorise the predominantly non-Indigenous Australian Parliament to create and manage a gagged advisory First Nations Voice body with permission to speak and be heard on matters of concern to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but deprived of sovereign representative powers to write or propose legislation, or enact reforms. The only guarantee provided regarding the Australian Parliament’s interaction with the proposed gagged Voice’s advice, was that it would be heard. This was insufficient. There was no guarantee of a Parliamentary response to advice, so the role and function of this proposed body was at the most, precarious and potentially humiliating. Since this disempowered First Nations Voice was not at all what the Uluru Statement from the Heart proposed, it was scarcely surprising that the Voice Referendum failed.

Yes voters hoped that establishing a Voice body with a right to be heard in the coloniser-dominated Parliament, would perhaps open the way to reforms led by MPs of goodwill. But the massive No vote should not be misinterpreted as unalloyed racism. The No vote was not a mandate for the Australian Parliament to shut Aboriginal voices and concerns, or Uluru Statement proposals, out of its debates. There are still eleven elected Aboriginal MPs in the Parliament, who all support the Uluru Statement proposals, and who all have the right to speak, be heard, and propose reform legislation. Following the Referendum failure, many No voters have told me they voted No because the Referendum proposed a gagged Voice instead of a representative Voice with powers. They voted No because they wanted an empowered First Nations Voice, not a gagged First Nations Voice that could be silenced. But folliwing the Referendum, anti-Australian Press outlets have smeared Australia as a racist country that refuses to allow its First Nations a Voice, because of the No vote. But this is slander: Australia’s No Referendum vote was really a vote against First Nations subjugation by neocolonial gagging.

Australia can and should do better than muzzling its First Nations Voices. When the 1901 Australian Commonwealth Constitution is superseded – as it should be – by a new Australian Republic Constitution, formulated and agreed as part of a National Treaty with Australia’s First Nations, and the First Nations Voice, which is currently exercised federally by First Nations Ambassador Justin Mohamed as the diplomatically accredited spokesperson for Australia’s First Nations. Through Australia’s First Nations Ambassador Mohamed and the Australian Parliament, the Australian people can co-ratify and co-execute a new Australian Constitution with (or without) the British Crown. In a future, diplomatically accredited Sovereign Republic of Australia, Australia’s First Nations could not be defined as a conquered, invaded, divided or subjugated race. They would be the federated Sovereign Founding Nations of the new Republic of Australia. This is the kind of structurally reformed, sealed Constitutional Voice enshrinement that was proposed by the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, which may yet occur.

Sadly, the failed Voice Referendum Question tried to reduce the visionary roadmap to Treaty provided by the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, to one disempowered Austtalian First Nations committee whose advice the Parliament would be required to listen to, but would not have been obliged to enact. This is the disempowered Advisory Committee trap, that Australian First Nations leaders have been consigned to for decades. But now, Australia’s rejection of this restricted First Nations Voice has been advertised to the world. The Referendum No vote has been misrepresented to the United Nations, as proof of an Australian national policy of apartheid racism. In the world’s eyes, Australia’s apparent failure to move towards a meaningful Treaty by a Referendum affirmation of the full 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, as Albanese promised in his 2022 election acceptance speech, will be ridiculed. But PM Albanese has another weapon up his sleeve.

Foreseeing the possibility of a Referendum debacle, Albanese and his Foreign Minister Penny Wong provided for every eventuality, when in March 2023, authorised by eminent First Nations Elders, they accepted the credentials of Australian First Nations Ambassador, Justin Mohamed. In the presence (or absence) of a First Nations Voice body, Ambassador Justin Mohamed is now the authorised go-to diplomatic representative of Australia’s First Nations, endowed with international diplomatic credentials to communicate formally with the Australian Parliament. Ambassador Justin Mohamed is fully empowered to communicate formally with, consolidate and present, the concerns of all First Nations corporate and community bodies, to the Australian Parliament. He can also require the Australian Parliament to provide written diplomatic responses to these First Nations concerns. He cannot be evicted from his role, or from his Australian Embassy, as he represents Australia’s Sovereign First Peoples. He is also authorised to report on the progress, or otherwise, of Australia’s relations with all of its First Nations, in international forums. His very presence has inaugurated Australia’s Bipartisan National Treaty negotiations. Irrespective of the Referendum outcome, Ambassador Mohamed’s local, regional, national and international reports, supported by his strong, independently funded First Nations staff team, will provide a unified, coordinated Australian First Nations Voice to the Australian Parliament, and to the world.

During the Voice Referendum campaign, First Nations Australians and their allies gathered and sent documented evidence of racist threats, trolling, intimidation, disinformation and other electoral abuses to Ambassador Mohamed, which will be included in his diplomatic reports and Treaty negotiations. Increased racist attacks on First Nations people will therefore produce increased damages claims, and increased international pressure for a Treaty settlement. The excessively prolonged Voice Referendum campaign provided many opportunities for mischievous political opportunists to unleash virulent racial hatred, disinformation and community division on a vulnerable, gullible, under educated Australian populace. Unless Australia restores its defamation, slander and human rights legislation, that was erased under Howard and Morrison, the perpetrators of this divisive Voice Referendum hate storm could go unpunished, and rise to fame and fortune. However, this legislation can be reinstated, as part of Treaty negotiations, and reporting electoral deceptions, disinformation and race hate abuse to First Nations Ambassador Justin Mohamed can render racist abusers accountable for their actions.

Despite all these troubles, in the field of Australian music, great intercultural goodwill, and disciplined cooperation, has continued. Non-Indigenous Australian musicians continue to partner with Indigenous Australian composers and musicians in many meangingful projects. The Song Company’s recent partnership with Jewish composer Joe Twist, to perform his setting of Oodjeroo Noonuccal’s Reconciliation poem, is just one example. My cross cultural music making with fortepianist Dr. Scott Davie, jazz pianist Dr. Kevin Hunt, The Song Company, Galston Uniting Church Ladies Choir, St Patricks Cathedral Choir, River City Voices Choir, flautist Dr. Sally Walker and harpist Emily Granger, and my Indigenous colleagues, have built a strong, peacemaking safety net for all participants. We now know each other, so there is potential for building greater trust. And this fact brings me to the point of this post – what role, if any, does Indigenous Australian music play in Australian cultural and community affairs? And who, ultimately, has legitimate responsibility for managing this role – media presenters, sponsors and grant investors, government arts policy makers, corporate music industry teams, or the Indigenous Australian communities who own this music?

Apart from live music, commissioners, and performers, the music Australia listens to and engages with is controlled by playlist presenters who specialise in particular media genres. Listening to playlists is cheaper, and more accessible, than live music. But radio play and streaming pays Australian music creators virtually nil, and some playlist presenters expect commissions, so live gigs are still the bread and butter of Australia’s musicians. But the power and influence of radio playlist presenters, who often act as genre gatekeepers, was demonstrated to me by a recent event.

Last week I received an unsolicited email from a Community Radio presenter, who said he played Australian Aboriginal music on his programs, but had just come across my music, and wanted to know more, so I filled him in. He then asked me if he could broadcast some of my tracks, as remixes he had made. I told him that neither I or my licensing agent APRA AMCOS provide remix licences for my copyright works. His request for remix permission should have been directed to my agent. I asked him to destroy any remixes he had made, and fortunately for him, he complied. He appeared unaware of the Ngarra Burria Composers group, although it’s been active since 2016, and all our members have been practising Indigenous musicians, way before then. But since he then purchased my tracks, and will advise me when he plays them, the eventual outcome of this encounter was good.

So how did this “Community Radio” chap suddenly become aware of my (lifelong) musical presence? I’d say it’s because a recent Ngarra Burria CD, “To Listen, To Sing”, that includes my Kooranginy Suite, was recently nominated for an ARIA Award. So if anyone else wants to suss out Ngarra Burria ARIA nominated tracks, and enjoy some relaxing post-Referendum, pre-Christmas listening, buy the ABC’s “To Listen, To Sing” CD and consult Mr. Google. All Ngarra Burria composers are online. And please spread the word that our written, recorded, produced and printed / digitally published Indigenous Australian music is available for radio airplay and performance, and (ARIA or not) there’s more Ngarra Burria music in the pipeline. We’re super happy to be nominated!