This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Indigenous groups around the country have strongly criticised Ken Wyatt for using a major address to rule out including a voice to parliament in any referendum on constitutional reform, with one Uluru statement advocate labelling him “utterly disrespectful” of the wishes of Indigenous people.

The Uluru statement from the heart clearly calls for a voice enshrined in the constitution as a crucial structural reform.

But, in delivering the annual Lingiari lecture in Darwin late last week, the minister for Indigenous Australians said while the Morrison government would put a referendum to the Australian people, there would be no reference to a voice to parliament.

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“I want to be very clear,” Wyatt said. “The question we put to the Australian people will not result in what some desire, and that is an enshrined voice to the parliament … these two matters, whilst related, need to be treated separately.

“This is about recognising Indigenous Australians on our birth certificate.

“Our challenge now is finding a way forward that will result in the majority of Australians, in the majority of states, overwhelmingly supporting constitutional recognition. We must be pragmatic.”

The annual lecture is named after Vincent Lingiari, one of the Gurindji leaders who led the 1966 walk-off from Wave Hill cattle station for equal pay and conditions, and ultimately for the return of their traditional lands.

Responses from Indigenous advocates to Wyatt’s speech have been harsh.

“It is utterly disrespectful to come out so strongly against [enshrining a voice in the constitution], especially at the Lingiari lecture, considering the vision and the courage Vincent Lingiari had to stand by his people and what they wanted, not what the government wanted,” said an advocate of the Uluru statement and union official, Thomas Mayor.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Northern Territory branch secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia and Uluru statement from the heart advocate Thomas Mayor. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian

“If Vincent and the Gurindji have taught us anything, it’s that you don’t take no for an answer from the government.”

The shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, said Labor supported the Uluru statement.

“The reason First Nations people have asked for a constitutionally enshrined voice is to ensure security of the voice – that it cannot simply be abolished by the government of the day,” Burney said.

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“The government should listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, including those who drafted the Uluru statement.”

Mayor, who has spent the past year traveling the country talking about the Uluru statement, said anything less was merely symbolic, “which is not what anybody wants”.

“The other reason it’s so disrespectful is that in 2017, one of the first places I took the Uluru statement from the heart was to the walk-off anniversary at Daguragu and after sitting through the night with the elders, they made a very clear statement of support for Uluru.”

On Twitter, the Labor senator for the Northern Territory Malarndirri McCarthy described Wyatt’s speech as “really disappointing”.

“Ultimately, he provides a vision for Australia which I think requires much more courage,” McCarthy said, noting that the Uluru statement described how Indigenous people feel the “torment of our powerlessness”.

malarndirri mccarthy (@Malarndirri19) That torment continues especially when hundreds if not thousands of First Nations people gathered & gave a document &said this is the direction we want. So that torment of powerlessness continues when you have a Minister who now says that that’s not the direction he’s going to go

Burney, among others, will discuss a voice to parliament tonight on ABC TV’s Q&A.