Yaama: The Voice of 2023 Young Citizen of the Year

My name is Noah Smith. I have lived on the Northern Beaches on Garigal country for the past nine years of my life. I’m 17 years old, 2024 School Captain at Barrenjoey High School, the  Northern Beaches 2023 Young Citizen of the Year and was the Youth Premier of the NSW Youth Parliament. But underpinning all of this, I am a proud descendent of the Gomeroi people of northwest New South Wales.

I have always grown up with my culture and it’s a key factor of much of my life, but as an Aboriginal person, many of these factors are open for public scrutiny, debate, and politicisation. Throughout my short time in the advocacy space, fighting for change for other Indigenous young people, it is never easy as the system was never designed to accommodate us. This is a similar story for all the Aunties, Uncles and Elders who have fought for the rights of Aboriginal people since 1788. 

In 2017, there was a proposal put to the people of Australia. This proposal came as the culmination of the work done by the bipartisan-appointed Referendum Council who conducted regional dialogues with Aboriginal people across Australia. This proposal is known as the Uluru Statement from the Heart which asked for three things; a voice for us to speak, a treaty, and truth telling for us to be listened to. 

In the upcoming referendum on 14 October Australia will be asked to vote on whether or not we should include Aboriginal people in our Constitution, and if we should establish a body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice that may make representation to the Parliament and executive government. This is all that we will be voting on. 

What this means in simple terms is it gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples the ability to tell the Government what they think about issues that affect them. The Government will not have to listen to this advice and the Voice cannot make endless challenges in the High Court but can advise the Government on how to better spend money and run programs in Aboriginal communities. 

I support a Voice to Parliament because it allows there to be a system and a structure in place where Aboriginal people can advocate in a way that levels the playing field. I would like to wake up on Sunday the 15th of October to a country that has changed for the better and is moving towards genuine reconciliation, a world where we show the Parliament and all other nations that we value the lives, traditions, customs and opinions of First Nations Australia.

We can see a new way to work with Aboriginal issues where Aboriginal people can have a direct say in a democratically elected system that represents them.

I believe we can win this, but we must show our support, wear a pin, a shirt or put up a sign that shows to the world you are not afraid to vote yes. So, I ask each and every one of you when the time comes, vote yes.