The Digital Record

The Voice Digital Record aims to gather together significant articles, speeches and commentary on the referendum, and to present these resources together in a accessible place.

The Digital Record will be updated on an ongoing basis to ensure it reflects the emerging debates and latest contributions. 

SEEKING CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The Digital Record will be an evolving space that reflect new developments, and new resources. This section is highly dependant upon contributions and recommendations from members of the public and experts. If you are aware of a resource or link that you think will be beneficial to share with a wider audience, please get in touch. 
  • Please note that all links and resources (other than books) are to open access sources - if links provided are only available behind a pay-wall then they cannot be posted​

Academic Articles and Publications

The following resources are academic articles and publications that appear in peer-review journals (this means that the contribution has been independently assessed and appraised by another expert prior to publication) or are work-in-progress towards such publications
A Voice to Parliament and Government
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The Voice: A constitutional & admin law perspective
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Membership of voice
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On the Legal Impact of the VOice

  • ANU First Nations Portfolio, Responding to Common Concerns about an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, available here.
  • Elisa Arcioni and Andrew Edgar The Voice: A constitutional and administrative law perspective Law Society Journal June 2023
  • Gabrielle J. Appelby, Ron Levy, and Helen Whalan, Voice versus Rights: The First Nations Voice and the Australian Constitutional Legitimacy Crisis (2023). 46(3) University of New South Wales Law Journal, 
  • Megan Davis, The Power of Voice – ‘10 Minute Genius’ , UNSW Sydney.  Video available here.
  • Dani Larkin, Kate Galloway Constitutionally entrenched Voice to Parliament: Representation and good governance 46 (3) ALTLJ 2021.
  • Dani Larkin, Sophie Rigney State and territory legislative vulnerabilities and why an Indigenous Voice must be constitutionally enshrined 46 (3) ALTLJ 2021
  • Jason O’Neil Designing an Indigenous Voice that empowers: How constitutional recognition could strengthen First Nations sovereignty 46 (3) ALTLJ 2021
  • Teela Reid, A new era of reckoning:  on The Voice to Parliament, The Ethics Centre, available here
  • Special issue of the Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues (June 2023)  available HERE
  • Open access themed issue of Alternative Law Journal (2021) available HERE
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Newpapers and Media 

eThis section draws together articles, opinion pieces and other contributions published in traditional and 'new' media site, newspapers and other formal sources
The Conversation has a special feature that pulls together the many article publish on the voice on one specialised page:

Books On the Voice

 Megan Davis, George Williams Everything You Need to Know about the Voice (2023, UNSW Press) ($27.99)
On 26 May 2017, after a historic process of consultation, the Uluru Statement from the Heart was read out. This clear and urgent call for reform to the community from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples asked for a First Nations Voice to Parliament protected in the Constitution and a process of agreement-making and truth-telling. Voice. Treaty. Truth.
What was the journey to this point? What do Australians need to know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart? And how can these reforms be achieved?
Everything You Need to Know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart, written by Megan Davis and George Williams, two of Australia’s best-known constitutional experts, is essential reading on how our Constitution was drafted, what the 1967 referendum achieved, and the lead-up and response to the Uluru Statement. Importantly, it explains how the Uluru Statement offers change that will benefit the whole nation.
Shireen Morris A First Nations Voice in the Australian Constitution (2020, Bloomsbury) ($58.49)
This book makes the legal and political case for Indigenous constitutional recognition through a constitutionally guaranteed First Nations voice, as advocated by the historic Uluru Statement from the Heart. It argues that a constitutional amendment to empower Indigenous peoples with a fairer say in laws and policies made about them and their rights, is both constitutionally congruent and politically achievable. A First Nations voice is deeply in keeping with the culture, design and philosophy of Australia's federal Constitution, as well as the long history of Indigenous advocacy for greater empowerment and self-determination in their affairs.
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Morris explores the historical, political, theoretical and international contexts underpinning the contemporary debate, before delving into the constitutional detail to craft a compelling case for change.
 Melissa Castan, Lynette Russell Time to Listen: An Indigenous Voice to Parliament (MUP 2023) ($19.95)
ime to Listen, Melissa Castan and Lynette Russell explore how the need for a Voice has its roots in what anthropologist WEH Stanner in the late 1960s called the ‘Great Australian Silence’, whereby the history and culture of Indigenous Australians have been largely ignored by the wider society. This ‘forgetting’ has not been incidental but rather an intentional, initially colonial policy of erasement. So have times now changed? Is the tragedy of that national silence—a refusal to acknowledge Indigenous agency and cultural achievements—finally coming to an end?
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The Voice to Parliament can be a transformational legal and political institutional reform, but only if we really listen to Indigenous people, and they are clearly heard when they speak.
Frank Brennan, An Indigenous Voice to Parliament: Considering a Constitutional Bridge (3rd ed, 2023, Garrat Publishing) ($24.95)
Frank Brennan is a Catholic priest, a lawyer and a member of the Jesuit Order, and has been an advocate for Indigenous rights for 40 years. In this book he critically examines the Voice, and arguments for and against:


In the past, advocates argued for changes to Commonwealth Parliament’s powers to legislate for Indigenous Australians and to the capacity of the High Court to strike down racially discriminatory laws. They also offered changes to the Constitution that would acknowledge Indigenous history, reality and aspirations. All those proposals are now replaced with the Voice. But is it to be a Voice to Parliament or a Voice to Parliament and to Government? Would the focus be only on special laws applying to the First Australians, or on any other relevant matters?

This book fairly outlines both the ‘Yes’ case and the ‘No’ case, so that voters can make up their own minds before casting their vote in the referendum. 

Parliamentary Submissions

In ​early 2023, the Joint Select Committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice Referendum called for submissions from the public and experts on the proposed voice. These submissions represent an excellent resource for understanding the many issues involved in the proposal, and in hearing how they are viewed by legal and policy experts. The full collection of submissions is available here 
The Final Report of the Committee is available here:
Advisory Report
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We are also grateful to have received permission from an number of people to post their submission to the Committee directly on this site. These include 
Prof Ben Saul Submissions
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Professor Ben Saul
Challis Chair of International Law, Sydney Law School
Dr Arconi and Dr Edgar Submissions
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Associate Professor Eilisa Arconi (University of Sydney)
​Associate Professor Andrew Edgar (University of Sydney)

Blogpost and Websites

This section draws together resources that are published on blog post, institutional, organisational and personal websites. These sources may not be as rigorously researched or as accurate as other resources, but can be more authentic and reflective of personal experiences and opinion. Others may include views from recognised experts and commentators
Rule of Law Legal Education Center
This Center has produced a number of resources that can help people understand the Referendum Debate, and the case for and against the proposed referendum. These include:
Griffith Review: The Voice 
Ahead of the referendum, the Griffith Review has put together a collection of essays by leading First Nations writers, thinkers and activists that explore the long road to Indigenous representation. These works are all unlocked and free to read.