The Yes Campaign has released its first video advertisement in which it champions the constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians.
The national ad, which hits TV screens on Friday, shows the widespread support among Australians for the recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the constitution but largely steers clear of the voice to parliament debate.
“Australia’s Constitution is 122 years old and still doesn’t recognise Indigenous Australians … this year Australians have a chance to fix that,” Gadigal elder Uncle Allen Madden is heard saying at the beginning of the ad
Arrernte elder Aunty Sabella Turner, tells the audience: “We’ve been here for 65,000 years.”
Madden then says “This year Australians have a chance to fix that with a referendum to give indigenous Australians a real say in their future”.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the ad will roll out online, on radio, and through OOH.
Despite saying the referendum is a chance “to give Indigenous Australians a real say in their future,”the only explicit Voice reference comes in the form of a hashtag at the end.
Yes Campaign Alliance director Dean Parkin told the Sydney Morning Herald that the ad is to simplify the conversation for a broad audience after months of intense political commentary around the Voice.
“We’ve got to remember that there’s a lot of people who haven’t really heard much about this, who are coming to it pretty fresh. There’s probably been a lot of confusion,” he said.
“This campaign, right from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, has always said that this is about both – it’s about recognition, but it’s about that recognition having to be meaningful. That’s why Indigenous people have said it’s got to be through the Voice. So it’s about combining the two.”
He said the ad would be the first of several and will go out nationally, saying: “We’re not at that stage of targeting, it’s a conversation for the whole nation.”
