Passionate about platforming diversity within First Nations communities, Trent is Co-Chair of the Legal Profession Reconciliation Network and is on the Executive Committee of Just Reinvest NSW. Trent is also a Director of Metro Arts QLD, Director of Independent Indigenous Tourism Operators of Queensland, Advisor to the Starlight Children’s Foundation and Advisor to the Board of ActionAid Australia. 

Trent Wallace is a Wongaibon person who was raised on Darkinjung Country and has a background working in the community legal sector, government and education. Trent joined Ashurst in 2020 in his role as First Nations Lead, a first for a global law firm. In addition to this, Trent is a lawyer, law lecturer and author.   

The Voice: A trust fall moment for First Nations peoples  

I am a Wongaibon person and the great-grandchild of a Coota Girls survivor. I am also a lawyer, law lecturer and author. I occupy several social justice focused board roles. In almost all of the professional roles I’ve held, I’ve been the first Aboriginal person to do so. Despite conquering major barriers, I am still subjected to deep inequities that are embedded in Australia’s DNA. My identity is rooted in shameful statistics that underscore my existence. To society, I’m too Aboriginal to be ‘white’ and too ‘white’ to be Aboriginal. An enigma, the result of colonisation and ignorance. People often tokenise me or treat me differently when they learn I am Aboriginal. It’s hard to make friends because casual racism exists as the equilibrium. I am not a victim of my Aboriginality, but I often feel people would like me to be.  

The Voice is not a quixotic concept. The Uluru Statement from the Heart is a generous offering. It is a hopeful call, one that is seeking to achieve peace. As First Nations peoples aren’t homogenous, I recognise various views. However, in my heart, I know this is the only opportunity we’ve had at creating meaningful change through self-determination. As a group, we’ve been spoken for, spoken about, researched, written about and ultimately told what is good for us…despite not speaking to us. Solutions developed without appropriate consultation. Parochial attitudes prevail when it comes to the “Aboriginal problem”. It is unfathomable that people would think we actively pursue disadvantage. I understand that education around our identity plays a significant role, but we are continually held up in that process. Numerous works of First Nations academics have been published – we cannot rely on the excuse of ‘not understanding’. Your role as an advocate is to platform such educational materials, and not just around National Reconciliation Week or NAIDOC Week. I dream of a time where the garrulous conversation and tokenism ends.  

Too often, our representation is either negative or it is through artwork. Meetings start with an Acknowledgement of Country, but the conversation around First Nations peoples stops there. To ethically consume cultures, you must take all of us, not some of us. Don’t turn away from our pain or our pleas to be included. Our career aspirations. Our dreams of success.  

If you want to actively contribute to reconciliation, vote “Yes” to the Voice. Accept the invitation set out in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. We are at your mercy as the most impacted peoples who have inherited generational failures. You have the chance to break this cycle. As pro bono practitioners and leaders, I am calling on you to educate yourselves, your workplaces, your family and your general sphere of influence. Utilise your privilege to educate people around the Voice.  

This piece represents the author’s personal views and does not necessarily represent the views of the organisations with which they are associated.

Gemma McKinnon is a Barkindji woman from Wilcannia in far west NSW. Gemma is the Responsible Business Manager (APAC) at Herbert Smith Freehills. Gemma was a Technical Advisor at the Referendum Council’s regional dialogues and the Constitutional Convention at Uluru. 

Why the Voice Matters

The question of why the Voice matters is deeply personal to First Nations people. Being part of the oldest continuing culture on the planet, and still being here despite the ongoing effects of colonisation, is a great source of pride and a testament to our strength. We bend, but we do not break. Our survival is a demonstration of our strength in culture, family, and in our ability to self-govern. Yet, since invasion, First Nations people have had little or no say in the laws and policies that govern us despite consistent, ineffective attempts to make decisions in what is purported to be our best interests.  

The Constitution fails to mention us at all, as though we haven’t been here for 60,000 years, caring for the land from which the Nation has built its prosperity. Despite this, and all that modern science, academic research and history have taught us, we still aren’t afforded a seat at the table on matters that directly and often disproportionately affect us. In the words of The Uluru Statement from the Heart, the torment of our powerlessness is why the Voice matters. 

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future. (The Uluru Statement from the Heart) 

I have spent my career working with First Nations people, supporting individuals, and advocating for legal and systemic change to improve the lives of our community. As an advocate for Aboriginal tenants in NSW, I met people who were born in a shack with a dirt floor, who stayed on that same parcel of land through different dwellings and different landlords and who were being served with an eviction notice for rent arrears. Their recourse lays in a tribunal member with no ability to consider anything but a law enacted in 2010. A Voice might enable lawmakers to consider legislative amendments that broaden the considerations available to these tribunal members, or indeed, create a more appropriate forum for such matters to be heard.  

This is just one of many examples of the dire need for reform informed by First Nations people. I hear my brothers and sisters when they say they want more than an advisory role, and when they express their fear that this voice might fall on deaf ears. I simply submit that we have no choice. Those of us living in the city, with the benefits of education and employment, do not have the right to deny those without clean water or adequate shelter a chance at change simply because we might have the luxury of feeling comfortable enough to wait for a better offer. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We cannot risk allowing it to slip away. 

This piece represents the author’s personal views and does not necessarily represent the views of the organisations with which they are associated.

Kishaya Delaney is a proud Wiradjuri woman, Pro Bono Solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills, and member of the Uluru Statement Youth Dialogue. Kishaya previously worked as Project Officer for the Towards Truth project, leading a team of researchers to develop a legislation and policy mapping database to support truth-telling under the third reform of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Kishaya regularly delivers presentations and facilitates information sessions about the Uluru Statement from the Heart and Voice to Parliament. 

  

Why the Voice Matters

Lawyers undertake pro bono work for one key reason – the public good. We understand that everyone deserves the right to access justice. We recognise that First Nations people are disproportionately impacted from all sides of the legal system, and we must work hard to ensure that those with the least opportunities are supported. As lawyers, we can understand the need to hear directly from our First Nations clients about the issues they encounter to inform how we can best help them navigate the legal system. 

This is why the Voice to Parliament is so important. How can we hope to improve the legal system if we are not hearing directly from those that it impacts the most? With substantive constitutional reform through a Voice to Parliament, we can make a crucial step towards addressing the systemic injustices that First Nations people have endured for far too long. This proposal aims to give Indigenous people a stronger say in the decisions that affect their lives and communities, and for lawyers who work pro bono for First Nations clients, this is of particular significance. 

The First Nations Voice to Parliament is important for lawyers because it has the potential to rebuild trust between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the legal system. The legal system has been historically fraught with tension and mistrust, and Indigenous people often felt excluded and disempowered. This is an opportunity to reshape that relationship by ensuring First Nations people are empowered to influence government and parliamentary decision making, and exercise true self-determination. It would mean that our voices and experiences would be taken into account and that we would finally have a seat at the table. 

As a proud Wiradjuri woman, I urge my colleagues to support this proposal and work towards creating a more equitable and inclusive legal system for all Australians. The Voice to Parliament is not just a matter of legal reform, it is a matter of survival and a chance for our voices to finally be heard and valued in the country that we have called home for thousands of years. 

This piece represents the author’s personal views and does not necessarily represent the views of the organisations with which they are associated.