“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been listening to the heartbeat of the land and sea for generations. With their rainbow shaped souls, the spirits ask for us to join and make reconciliation more than a word, take action.”

Edmund Rice Students and others in Australia, under the banner of ERA for Change, support the Uluru Statement from the Heart and upon consultation with First Nations People, we call for:

1. An Aboriginal voice to Parliament to ensure that First Nations Peoples are able to be directly involved in the Parliamentary process, having a voice in the Australian Constitution so that the Indigenous “ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood.” 
2. The structural issues that have caused the disproportionate rate of incarceration for Aboriginal people in particular the “obscene” numbers of Youth detention to be addressed. All people have the right under the United Nations Declaration of Human rights to “Be equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination the equal protection of the law.” “First Nations People are NOT criminals but hold this Nation's identity.”  
3. Support for a commission to oversee the process of Government communication with First Nations people to ensure that their rights are upheld. 
4. We call for Article 13.2 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to be instated in Australia. (Article 13.2) “States shall take effective measures to ensure this right is protected and also to ensure that indigenous peoples can understand and be understood in political, legal and administrative proceedings, where necessary through the provision of interpretation or by other appropriate means.” 

Edmund Rice Students and other collaborators in Australia, encouraged by ERA for Change, address this petition to the Prime Minister, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, all First Nations Senators and Members of Parliament to ensure that the voices of the unheard are heard. 

We, Edmund Rice students and collaborators in Australia, under the banner of  ERA for Change, following in the footsteps of Edmund Ignatius Rice’s advocacy, use Reconciliation Week 2021 to call for action to be taken. Specifically, we call on the Government to listen to the voices on the demands of Aboriginal people, particularly highlighted in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, as well as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples making Australia a nation where the rights of Aboriginal people are endorsed and upheld.

It is time for action.