ADVISER ON VOICE WANTS JAN 26 GONE
JAMES CAMPBELL
A member of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Referendum Engagement Group on the proposed Voice to parliament has described Australia as “a nation without a soul” and believes that instead of moving the country’s national day from January 26, it should be abolished completely.
Teela Reid, a lawyer and academic at the University of Sydney, is an Uluru Dialogue leader and member of the Voice Referendum Engagement Group, who in January was described by the PM as part of
the next generation of “remarkable” Indigenous leaders.
She is an advocate for reparations to Indigenous people who has said the Voice should be “the first step in redistributing power”.
In May, Ms Reid appeared on the ABC’s coronation broadcast alongside Stan Grant, which was later attacked by monarchists. In the aftermath she defended Grant, saying he had spoken “with love, truth and compassion for an Australia that has never shown it back to us as First Nations people. Ever”. She also said,
“Racism is synonymous with Australia. Australia wouldn’t exist without racism. Racism has nothing to do with the colour of your skin, it has everything to do with power and privilege”, and “There is no point in blackfullas trying to explain our pain to a nation without a soul”.
In January, in response to a proposal posted on Twitter that Australia Day be moved out of respect to Indigenous Australians, Reid responded “How very Aussie is this; let’s ignore history, find a new meaningless date to celebrate, and forget that the Blaks ever declared 26 Jan a Day of Mourning”, adding
“It’s always been #AbolishAustraliaDay changing the date is a cop out”.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney has repeatedly said the proposed Voice would not be giving advice to the government on Australia Day, a position Ms Reid rejects. In April she tweeted, “It might be the Australian Government ‘preference’ to keep things like Australia Day, but trying to limit the scope of what the people can advocate for to change is just stupid”. She has also said
“It is truly disingenuous to be claiming mob won’t be demanding to #AbolishAustralia day. It started decades before the referendum, it’ll still be a demand after it”. Ms Reid is also a long time advocate for compensation and reparations paid to Indigenous Australians. In 2020 she wrote in the Griffith Review that “the struggle for a First Nations Voice has been 250 years coming, ever since Captain Cook landed uninvited in 1770”, saying it was “about the fight for land rights, water rights and the right to save our planet from the colonial structures that have attempted to destroy it. It is about the fight for peace and justice, compensation and reparations”.
In May at the Ethics Centre in Sydney, she doubled down saying “You know that there does need to be reparations here, there does need to be compensation”.
A senior strategist inside the No case said when soft Yes voters were presented with evidence the Voice might lead to the abolition of Australia Day or reparations to Indigenous people, it moved significant numbers to change their mind.