....but seriously, doesn't this sound like an extremely bureaucratic arrangement, and one which I can readily imagine primed for internal fights and dissent? From the Guardian, explaining in summary form how the Langton idea for the Voice is supposed to work:
It will provide independent advice to parliament and government.
It will be chosen by First Nations people based on the wishes of local communities.
It will be representative of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
It will be empowering, community-led, inclusive, respectful, culturally informed and gender balanced. It will also include youth.
It will be accountable and transparent.
The voice will work alongside existing organisations and traditional structures.
The Calma-Langton co-design report recommended the national voice have 24 members, with gender balance structurally guaranteed.
The base model proposes two members from each state, the Northern Territory, ACT and Torres Strait. A further five members would represent remote areas due to their unique needs – one member each from the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales. An additional member would represent the significant population of Torres Strait Islanders living on the mainland.
Members would serve four-year terms, with half the membership determined every two years. There would be a limit of two consecutive terms for each member.
Two co-chairs of a different gender to one another would be selected by the members of the voice every two years.
The Calma-Langton model proposed a national voice with two permanent advisory groups – one on youth and one on disability – and a small ethics council to advise on probity and governance.
How would local and regional voices feed in?
The co-design report proposed 35 regions, broken down by state and territory. Communities and governments in each state and territory would jointly determine these.
Local and regional voices would provide advice to all levels of government to influence policy and programs, and advise the non-government sector and business.
The report outlines their roles, how they would be constituted and the principles they would embody, like cultural leadership, community-led design and empowerment.
There would be “a clear, two-way flow of advice and communication” between them and the national voice, the report said.
No comments:
Post a Comment