Boroondara party to Voice referendum politicisation

Boroondara Council are unlikely to adopt a position on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament as National Reconciliation Week commences May 27.

There are currently no plans for a vote of elected council to officially support a Voice campaign, Boroondara Councillor Victor Franco said.

“It’s possible that not all [Boroondara councillors] would support a ‘Yes’ campaign… given the past track record when we adopted our inaugural reconciliation action plan,” Cr Franco said.

Boroondara’s Reconciliation Action Strategy 2022-2026 passed with six councillors in favour and five against.

“[The strategy] entertained the idea that a place or a space could be renamed from a non- indigenous name to having an indigenous or… dual indigenous name [which] was too much for some of my colleagues,” Cr Franco said.

Swinburne University of Technology announced their support for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, in a staff email last Tuesday.

The Boroondara-based university said they encourage people to become educated on the issue as they “welcome an informed and respectful debate”.

Individual education is necessary as Voice discussions are “politicized in the media and [are] hijacked. The narrative becomes… quite polarizing”, Swinburne Associate Professor in Indigenous Studies Andrew Peters said.

“Don’t just rely on your social media… [or] what you see in the newspapers or… even on the tv… do your own independent research, particularly from those who are constitutional experts,” Mr Peters said.