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Raising the Voice to Parliament

When

Event Status

Hear from a panel of experts about the opportunities, challenges and complexities involved in Australia’s journey towards enshrining a First Nations Voice to Parliament.

About

The Voice to Parliament is a watershed moment for First Nations people. Offering a pathway to constitutional recognition and a mechanism to enact real change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the Voice will be proposed in a national referendum due by 2025.

But what does the Voice mean and what will it look like? What are the forms of support and dissent espoused within First Nations communities? And with only eight of the past 44 national referendums garnering enough support to enact constitutional change, what will be required to make it a reality?

In this Spring Fling event presented in partnership with Blak & Bright and featuring lawyer Teela Reid, co-chair of the senior design group for the Voice Professor Marcia Langton and hosted by writer and creative Ben Abbatangelo, find out what form the Voice might take, what it represents to First Nations communities, and what its impact would be on the ground.

This event will open with a Yarn Bomb from emerging Wamba Wamba playwright Brodie Murray.

This event will be photographed and recorded for use by the Wheeler Centre.

The bookseller for this event is Readings.

Presented in partnership with Blak and Bright 

Accessibility

Wheelchair accessible

Accessible toilets available

Auslan Interpreted

You can learn more about the Wheeler Centre’s accessibility policies here. Please notify us of all access requirements when booking online so we can assist you with your visit. If you require further information, please contact reception on 03 9094 7800 or ticketing@wheelercentre.com.

About Spring Fling

Celebrating our return to the stage and the rejuvenation of the arts and culture communities, Spring Fling is a short series of big ideas offering a delectable picnic spread of events with leading thinkers, writers and creators from Australia and abroad.

Spring Fling is supported by the Melbourne City Revitalisation Fund, a Victorian Government and City of Melbourne partnership.

Spring Fling 2022

Featuring

Ben Abbatangelo

Ben Abbatangelo is a Gunaikurnai and Wotjobaluk creative, impactor and writer. He is a former professional athlete with the Melbourne Stars, the former Deputy CEO of the global non-profit, AIME, and a current board member of online education platform, Victoria University Online. A story holder, make... Read more

Marcia Langton

Professor Marcia Langton AM holds the Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. Her doctoral fieldwork was conducted in eastern Cape York Peninsula during the 1990s, and her experience of the statutory land claim and native title system in this region was informed by a d... Read more

Brodie Murray

Brodie is a Wamba Wamba playwright of Scottish Australian heritage. He has received the Best Emerging Indigenous Artist,and the Young Creatives Award at Melbourne Fringe Festival 2021, and the Australia Council for the Arts First Nations Emerging Career Development Award, First Nations Arts Awards 2... Read more

Teela Reid

Teela Reid is a proud Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman and lawyer. She has experience practicing in criminal, civil and administrative law. She was born and raised in Gilgandra western NSW and come from a family of advocates in the NSW Land rights movement. Teela was involved as a working group leader on... Read more

Location

The Capitol

113 Swanston Street Melbourne Victoria 3000

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Privacy Policy

The Wheeler Centre acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Centre stands. We acknowledge and pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their Elders, past and present, as the custodians of the world’s oldest continuous living culture.