Burney: ‘History will be kind to the Voice’

Linda Burney says the referendum to create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament will be “looked on more kindly by history,” despite ultimately failing winning public support.

Delivering her valedictory speech in parliament on Wednesday, the former minister for Indigenous Australians said the Voice would be a “catalyst for progress and positive change,” despite not achieving the outcome the government wanted.

“In the years that come, it will be looked on more kindly by history because … the government and parliament finally had the courage to put the question to the people,” she said.

“(And) because of the role it played in inspiring a new generation of young Indigenous leaders to emerge … and pushed the change for a better future because it showed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote communities overwhelmingly wanted the Voice to be heard.”

However she said Australia still had a “far” way to go to become a “truly reconciled country”.

“Progress doesn’t always move in a straight line. The road is rocking. There are obstacles in the path,” she said.

“We have our stumbles and our setbacks, but our overall direction is towards progress, and with each passing generation, we bend the moral arc of the universe closer to justice.”

She added that Australia still “struggles with out identity” as it never came to terms with our story, and “certainly not its truth”.

“The generosity we pride ourselves on is rarely extended to the people in this nation who have occupied these lands for countless generations. Why? Part of the answer is that we don’t have a shared narrative,” she said.

“There is the extraordinary foundation of First Nations people, the layer of European settlers … then there’s layer upon layer of people who settled in Australia because of conflict and the search for a better life.

“We live in that cross section, all of it, and all of us … you take the whole, not just the bits that suit you.”

Echoing Ms Burney’s entrance in the federal parliament in 2016, in which her best friend and fellow Wiradjuri woman Lynette Riley sang her into the chamber, Ms Riley’s daughter Garigarra Riley-Mundine sang her out.

Ms Burney, who has been the MP for the Sydney seat of Barton, last month announced her retirement from parliament at the next election.

Addressing parliament following her speech, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese credited Ms Burney as a close friend, and someone with “grace, kindness … and remarkable courage”.

“Linda Burney (is) someone whose origins were tougher, probably than anyone who’s ever entered this place, and who has known loss and difficult and had every reason to lose her faith in humanity, but has never lost a bit of it,” he said.

He said that while she wasn’t immune to “personal” emotional setbacks, Mr Albanese

Former deputy prime minister and the member for Riverina, the electorate where Ms Burney grew up) Michael McCormack said she would continue to be a “powerful voice” for all Australians in the future.

“I know that Linda is a proud Whitton girl, and she spent her primary school years at that little village’s primary school, and she’s gone on to great things, and we thank you for that,” he said.

“We respect you for that (and) your work is not finished.”

A former teacher and NSW state MP, Ms Burney was the first Indigenous woman to serve in the House of Representatives, as a cabinet minister, and as the first Indigenous woman to serve as a minister for Indigenous Australians.

Northern Territory senator Malarndirri McCarthy has succeeded her as the Minister for Indigenous Australians.