Thanks to Sheikh Wessam Charkawi for his introduction and to Uncle John for his smoking ceremony.
I would also like to acknowledge Imam Shadi Alsuleiman, President of the Australian National Imams Council, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamad, Grand Mufti of Australia, Hafez Alamadine, President of the Lebanese Muslim Association and Sheikh Yahya Safi, Imam of Lakemba Mosque.
It’s such an honour to join you all here in this holy place.
Next weekend’s referendum on the Constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will be unifying moment for our country.
I am deeply moved by just how strongly the Muslim community of Australia has got behind it.
Earlier this year it was a high school teacher, Saja Alam, who put it so perfectly when she explained to SBS why being a Muslim means being an ally for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. She said, ‘To be a Muslim is to stand for justice.’
The relationship between Muslims and the Indigenous people of this continent is one that goes back for centuries, long before European eyes saw this continent for the first time, there was a relationship.
It began in northeast Arnhem Land with the Yolngu people and Makassar traders from Indonesia.
And I visited Makassar as one of my first visits within weeks of becoming Prime Minister of this nation, in order to acknowledge this important historical relationship between the Makassar traders and our First Australians.
The truth is that since then, the relationships between Aboriginal people and Muslims across Australia has been present for centuries.
But what really lingers in the mind is the way these people of very different cultures came together.
This was not moment of conflict.
This was a moment of friendship, of economic trading, of exchanges of language and culture as well.
And when you visit northeast Arnhem Land, as I have on a regular basis, at the Garma Festival, there are words there that trace their origin back those hundreds of years.
This was a gentle coming together in the best traditions of what we are trying to do with this great Australian multicultural project, bringing people together in harmony, being enriched by the diversity of this great land.
The Australian National Imams Council got to the heart of the matter in their endorsement of a Voice to Parliament.
In their endorsement, they reminded us, before 1770, Muslims engaged with the Aboriginal people of this land.
They shared resources, engaged in trade, and had a respectful relationship.
A relationship of equals, built on mutual respect.
Those values, respect and fairness, are core values of the Government that I'm proud to lead.
And I'm so pleased to be joined here today by my Ministerial colleagues Tony Burke and Anne Aly.
And my Parliamentary colleagues Sally Sitou and also Andrew is here somewhere, as well.
As well as the state parliamentarians who are here to show respect to this community.
This chance, this voting in our great democracy between now and next Saturday, is a chance for Australia to show our best.
To show that we understand the appeal to our better angels, not to a dark side of fear.
Because no great nation was ever made greater by giving into fear.
What makes a nation greater is optimism and hope and a positive vision for the future.
And that is what the Voice is about.
The Uluru Statement invites us to join this journey.
It says this, ‘We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.’
Now, we know that there are millions of Australians who are just turning their minds to the question of the referendum.
Many people, focusing on these issues for the very first time.
And this is where your advocacy is so important and so powerful.
Every conversation that you have will make a difference.
So, I encourage you to speak to your neighbours, to speak to your friends, to speak to your community.
Explain what this is about.
And it's about just two things.
One, recognising that the history of this land did not begin in 1770, but goes back some 65,000 years with the oldest continuous culture on earth.
A culture which we share in this great continent of ours.
And the second thing is the form of recognition that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have asked for, have requested of us.
Which is a form of recognition that won't just be about symbolism, but is about making a difference to their lives.
By giving them an opportunity to have a Voice so we can listen to them about matters that directly affect their lives.
So we can close the gap on education and health and housing and life expectancy.
A simple and generous request, not with the right of veto, not to provide funding, but simply the right to be heard.
And this community, which has also from time to time suffered from discrimination understands how important it is to be heard.
And that is what this is about.
Yes to recognition.
Yes to listening.
Yes to getting better results.
And I ask of my fellow Australians, if not now, when?
Our Constitution was written in 1901.
It was as if there was no one here at that time.
Indeed, up until the Mabo decision, we pretended, with the concept of terra nullius, that this was a vacant land.
We know that is not the truth and we should acknowledge it in our founding document.
Because the only alternative to voting Yes is voting No.
There is no progressive Yes, or progressive No, or conservative Yes or conservative No.
It is Yes or No.
And voting No means we keep doing the same thing.
The same thing that is not closing the gap.
Voting No leads us nowhere. No recognition, no way forward.
Now, I believe that we do have a broken status quo, which is why we need change.
An eight-year life expectancy gap.
A greater chance of an Indigenous young male going to jail than to university.
A greater chance of an Indigenous young woman dying in childbirth than a non-Indigenous woman.
Gaps in education, health and housing outcomes.
Infant mortality rates that should provoke a response in all of us, to need to do better.
Our Indigenous brothers and sisters are asking us for support.
They are asking us, even in a country as blessed as ours is, to have the same opportunity for their children as non-Indigenous Australians.
Now, this referendum won't be decided by politicians.
It will be decided by everyone in this room above the age of 18, has the same vote as the Prime Minister or Minister Burke.
So, we have an opportunity.
And I do encourage you to get out there and have those conversations.
To talk with those who haven't yet had a chance to engage in the coming referendum.
I want you to take, I know the view that people of faith have, and yesterday I was with my friends, the Grand Mufti and Sheikh Shadi, at an interfaith meeting, and something that all of those faiths have in common is the idea that we have a responsibility to people who are disadvantaged, who are being left behind.
We have a responsibility to them because of our values and our beliefs at our core, to do something for them.
Now, a lot of the time, it is difficult to know what we can do as individuals, to put our faith into practice.
People will ask themselves, what can I do about it? What can I do about an Indigenous child being born in central Australia, without the same opportunities that my children have?
Now we have an answer.
Write Yes on the ballot paper.
Write Yes for a better future.
Write Yes to embrace the opportunity that is there that Indigenous Australians are asking us for.
Write Yes in order to embrace the hand of friendship which has been outreached to us by Indigenous Australians.
Just asking us, a modest request, to join with that hand.
Which is what we do when we greet each other in our house, in our schools, in our streets.
We reach out and say, that is how we greet each other, to show respect to each other.
That is what Indigenous Australians are asking of us.
So, I ask of you to take up that request with a positive Yes.
Not just for yourselves, but your family, your neighbours, your people who you play sport with, who you work with, who you engage with on a day-to-day basis.
And give them, give our first Australians the opportunity to achieve the better future that they seek.
Let’s all advance reconciliation and unity on referendum day.
And when we wake up on October 15, we will wake up to a nation that has not only shown respect to the oldest continuous culture on earth, that we have the privilege of sharing this continent with, we will wake up to an Australia that we’ll feel better about ourselves as well.
Because we've acknowledged our history.
Because we are, as a nation, prepared to move forward to that better future.
I thank you very much for your attention today.