Document records dialogue leading up to Australia referendum, not vote's 'hidden agenda'

"The Uluru statement that Albo keeps referring to, is not one page, its a 26 page document," reads part of a Facebook post shared on August 10, 2023.

"The paragraph about reparations and claiming a percentage of our national GDP, is a worry...... as well as the 'substantive' changes to our Constitution," it adds, linking to a copy of the document uploaded to the Daily Telegraph newspaper website (archived link).

The Uluru Statement from the Heart, which calls for a First Nations "voice" enshrined in the constitution, was shared in May 2017 and forms the basis of the so-called Voice referendum (archived links here and here).

The referendum, an election promise of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's centre-left government, will ask Australians if they support amending the constitution to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice that will be consulted on laws that impact them.

Supporters say the proposed reform will help address the colonial legacy and inequalities faced by Aboriginal Australians, but opponents say the proposal is divisive, lacks detail, adds unnecessary bureaucracy and risks clogging up the courts.

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on August 24, 2023

Misinformation about the length and content of the Uluru Statement has rippled through the national debate on the referendum, with similar posts equating the 26-page document to the Uluru Statement shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and here, and on Facebook here.

The claim the statement is 26 pages long was also aired in parliament by Conservative MP Colin Boyce on August 8 (archived link).

But the Uluru Statement is only one page long and the document circulating online is a record of discussions held with Indigenous leaders that gives background on how the statement was put together.

Uluru Statement

The Uluru Statement is a one page, 439-word document that was endorsed by a majority of Indigenous delegates at the First Nations National Constitutional Convention at Uluru (archived links here and here).

According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, it presses for "substantive reform to help realise Indigenous rights" (archived link).

It calls for a constitutionally-protected permanent "First Nations Voice", "agreement-making" between Indigenous peoples and governments, and "truth-telling" about Australia's history -- or, as summarised by constitutional law expert George Williams -- "Voice. Treaty. Truth".

Williams, co-author of the book Everything You Need To Know About The Voice and a member of the advisory Constitutional Expert Group, told AFP the "statement is clear that it supports a sequenced approach beginning with a constitutionally enshrined Voice" (archived links here and here).

"The referendum this year is about that first step," he said on August 16.

The statement also calls for the establishment of a "Makarrata Commission" to oversee agreement-making and truth-telling.

"Makarrata" is defined as "the coming together after a struggle" and according to a Parliamentary Library entry, is often considered synonymous with a treaty (archived link).

Prime Minister Albanese has vowed his government will fully implement the Uluru Statement (archived link).

'Background and context'

The 26-page document referred to and linked in the false posts is in fact contained within a 112-page Freedom of Information (FOI) release by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) on March 10, 2023 (archived link).

This document mostly contains meeting notes from dialogues between the government-appointed Referendum Council and Indigenous Australians in 2016 and 2017, to discuss how best to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the constitution (archived link).

The false posts claim the 25 pages that follow the Uluru Statement, which is on page 87 of this tranche of documents, are also part of the statement.

Of these, 19 were included in the Referendum Council's Final Report, which has been available since January 20, 2018 (archived link).

While it does reference "reparations, a financial settlement (such as seeking a percentage of GDP), the resolution of land, water and resources issues", Williams said the document only provides background and context to "how we got here, including as to the views of Indigenous peoples leading up to the Uluru Statement".

"It is no more than background though, and does not form part of the statement itself."

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Screenshot of a section of the document released by the NIAA

The remaining six pages outline a six-stage roadmap for establishing the Voice and the Makarrata Commission.

While the roadmap was not previously publicly available, both the Voice and the Makarrata Commission are key pillars of the Uluru Statement.

The NIAA told AFP on August 22 the roadmap was "background information".

The agency did not clarify if the roadmap provides official guidance, but said the government's path to implementing the Voice is being developed in "close consultation" with the Constitutional Expert Group.

AFP has previously debunked false claims relating to the Voice referendum here, here and here.