In this interview, Margaret Chambers on 3AW Mornings contextualises and disseminates the findings of the IPA’s research into the Victorian treaty.
All media appearances posted onto the IPA website are directly related to the promotion and dissemination of IPA research
Tom Elliott:
Okay. Our next guest is a research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs. They’ve done this survey which says that support for the Treaty here in Victoria is low. Only 37% of people back at, 42% don’t want it, 21% are undecided. Margaret Chambers, good morning.
Margaret Chambers:
Good morning. Thanks for having me on.
Tom Elliott:
It’s perhaps not a real surprise, is it? Because even here in the People’s Republic of Victoria, we voted against the federal indigenous voice to Parliament. So probably not a surprise that when confronted with a state equivalent, we also don’t really like it.
Margaret Chambers:
Yeah, that’s exactly right. I think you’re bang on. Two years ago, we actually already had a referendum on this issue, and when asked whether or not they wanted a race-based body inserted into the constitution, Victorians unequivocally said no. 54% of them said no. And, yeah, that’s exactly what this survey finds. It’s even less than that. 37% of Victorians support the Treaty. 42% are opposed to it, and only 21% were unsure. But what this survey actually shows is that the more that Victorians know about the Treaty, the less they like it. So when they’re presented with the actual wording of the proposal in the government’s own words, mind you, the support drops off quite dramatically.
Tom Elliott:
It’s already passed the lower house. I think they’re going to get the numbers in the upper house, and I’m told it could be in front of the governor in just a couple of weeks.
Margaret Chambers:
Yeah, that’s exactly right. So this just soared through the lower house, because Victorian Labour Party has the numbers for it. And I think what they’re relying on is that there’s not a lot of public knowledge about this issue in the community. I think most people would think we’ve already had a referendum. What’s that about? I don’t really know anything about Treaty. And then when they find out about it, they actually do oppose it as the polling shows.
Tom Elliott:
Can I ask you, do you know what a thing called colonial load leave is?
Margaret Chambers:
Yes. Colonial load leave, I think it’s this idea that some people suffer this invisible burden for living and working in a colonial structure. And I think this is the sort of language that the Treaty absolutely promotes. There are provisions across the Treaty bill that support that kind of thing becoming widespread across Victoria.
Tom Elliott:
Yeah, I got an email from a listener called Smithy Overnight, and if you work at Monash University and you are indigenous on top of ceremonial leave, you also get colonial load leave. And I looked it up and it says the unrecognised workload placed on First Nations people in workplaces, which includes expectations to provide cultural knowledge and support to non-indigenous colleagues to act as representative for indigenous issues and to address systemic injustices caused by colonisation. So basically, you get a couple of weeks of extra holidays a year to deal with this.
Margaret Chambers:
Yeah, and I think like the Treaty, I think most people would just expect to be treated equally in the workplace, but all of these ideas are based on the idea that we live in this inherently unjust and systemically racist country and state. So the Treaty tries to address that, but it does so through quite dramatic means. They’re talking about renaming parts of the state, overhauling the education system. And this is framed as being a bill that’s about families and about closing the gap, but I don’t know what renaming half the state has to do with closing the gap. To me, that’s something else entirely.
Tom Elliott:
That’s a very good point. Look, thank you for your time. Margaret Chambers there. So she’s a research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs and was involved in doing this survey, which says that just like the federal indigenous voice to parliament, we don’t really like the state-based equivalent. And remember also, if we are such a terrible, racist country, I mean, do we need separate voices for Indian people and Vietnamese people and Chinese people and Greek and Italian people? I mean, where does it end? One over 693, calls, emails ahead, at a quarter past 10:00.
This transcript with Margaret Chambers on 3AW Mornings has been edited for clarity.
