Thomas Mayo on continuing the fight for recognition

That evening.

It was one of the hardest things I think I've ever experienced in my life.

You have worked for years to try and advocate for a voice to Parliament.

Can you explain what's running through your head at this moment.

I'm devastated.

I know there's a lot of people that have done a lot of hard work, you know, not just here in this room, but across Australia. You know, many thousands of volunteers.

Thomas Mayo is an optimist by nature, but on the evening of October fourteen last year, his optimism was put to the ultimate test. It was the night the referendum he campaigned so hard for was so utterly defeated.

So many emotions all at once.

It was you know, anger, sadness, and I think the words that I said were pretty raw at.

The time, you know.

And I was quite disappointed in the result, of course, but I was mostly disappointed in the way that one side of politics, Peter Dutton, chose to use it as a political opportunity. But we have seen in a disgusting No campaign, a campaign that has been dishonest, that has lied to the Australian people. And I'm sure that'll come out in the analysis. I'm sure that history will reflect poorly on Peter Dutton, Pauline Hansen, all of those that have opposed this.

And although the referendums saw Australians vote resemblingly against the Voice, Thomas has not given up hope. In fact, he's written a new book always was, always will be, outlining a vision for what comes next.

I think when it comes to the constitution, how this country is structured, we can't blame the forefathers of Australia. We can blame ourselves for not getting it done last year. It's us, under our watch in our time that we rejected average non terrest right island of people that sixty five thousand years of history and culture. We rejected that as being part of who we are in our founding document. But with this book, I had to think about that and let go of any bitterness. You know, I still

Apart from writing the book, were able to get any sort of downtime with your family after I mean, I remember seeing you on the trail and you hadn't seen your family or weren't going to see your family for months. Did you get time to spend some quality of time with them?

Yeah, absolutely I did. I enjoyed going fishing with them and going camping. I think one of the most special things was being able to get out on the salt water again with the family. I love fishing, I love hunting, and so do my kids. And we got out to our favorite fishing spot, caught some travalis, you know, a nice firm white flesh for making numbers.

And in the.

Build up weather very humid, like swimming through the air. It's so hot like a soup. We made fresh numbers and it's lemon and vinegar and chili and raw onion and raw fish cooked in the yocidity put in the ski and it's just such a wonderful thing to eat cold in that weather while you're fishing. And I asked my little daughter Ruby what her favorite part of the fishing trip was, and she said that it was making the numbers out at sea.

Beautiful, beautiful. I want to try some of that.

Yeah, it's lovely. You've got to try it, brother, when you're in Darwin with.

Me From Schwarts Media. I'm Daniel James. This is seven AM. In the months leading up to the referendum, like many other publicly outspoken supporters of the Voice, Thomas Mayo experienced a barrage of attacks from conservative media outlets. He said that even though the campaign for Yes lost the vote, what they did gain was resilience and a new generation of Indigenous leaders.

Today.

Aboriginal torres Strat Island to activist Thomas Mayo on his new book and the Continuing Fight for Justice and Recognition for First Nations People. It's Wednesday, September four, Thomas. In the book, you mentioned that during the campaign, and probably before that, really, there were a number of assertions made by opponents of the Yes campaign, the first being the notion of elite Aboriginals and the second being the notion

Yeah, Look, the argument that we heard throughout the campaign that we shouldn't listen to Indigenous leaders because they're elite. You know, because they might have achieved some academic qualifications, or they might have risen to leadership in their peak health bodies, or they might have advocated for many many years and then that having been recognized, participated in the process towards the hope of achieving the referendum.

Said Indigenous people in remote communities were also struggling, but didn't say why. I'll tell you why they're struggling. Because the elites and activists of the Aboriginal industry like Pearson are responsible for it. They are responsible for entrenching a disadvantage so their taxpayer grating train.

This says not about United Asia. This is about insulting our intelligence and demanding that we succumb to what these elites want.

Full of Aboriginal dissent continually.

Who are you know, in the elite of this country.

Who are turning around and continually saying, you know, it's all the fault of the white man.

This is just a nonsense, really, that we should think that people that have done so much hard work should suddenly be seen as elites and not listened to. I don't think there's any other profession where you know, your experts should be ignored you know, it's just a ridiculous argument and we heard it, so I address that.

And you know, the other one.

Is how people say that all Australians are treated the same, that Indigenous people are equal as it stands today, and you need only look at the statistics to understand that that isn't true. You know, what should be common sense is that Indigenous people are human. You know, we're just like anyone else in our ability to have full and healthy lives. And there must be something wrong. There must

Despite the defeat, the Yes campaign garnered six point two million votes, really, thousands of volunteers to the course. What's happened with all that energy? Has there been any planning on as to how to tap into that momentum since the defeat?

Yeah, I think a lot of people were down in the doldrums really, and that's understandable. You know, people put their hearts and souls into this, you know, they put themselves in front of the most nasty elements of Australia that was stirred up by some really nasty people that would do that for their own political gain, and I refer to them in the book as bad actors. But I think people are still asking the question what's next,

So I think they just needed guidance.

And you know, one of the reasons I believed in a Voice so much was because we need that structure to give that guidance and to point in the direction that we need to go and bring people along with us.

And that's very.

Difficult without it, and so I knew it would take some time, so put together this book to give that guidance.

After the break. What the future looks like through Thomas Mayo's eyes. Thomas, we've been talking about the past, particularly the referendum result, but as you've indicated, the book is just as much about the future as it is about the past. So what does that future look like?

The future looks like justice and recognition for First Nations people, which is all we were trying to do last year, and it is what will continue to do.

And what gives me.

Hope, brother, is that I know that young people voted yes, you know Generation Z. There was an overwhelming yes vote from young voters. And I think that those young people will continue to support this because they've had a completely different education to many older Australians and they don't hold the prejudices that older Australians have. And so that gives me great hope. And I know that we will achieve what we tried to do last year. I know we

Still.

Good government policy policies that ensure that there is a voice for Indigenous people, that we're consulted before decisions are made to give a self determination. Combine those things, though with consistency, and we've had each of those three things from time to time, but they've never been consistent, and that's how we get there.

Have you been disappointed by the government seemingly walking away from its commitment to a Macarata commission and where does that leave the idea of truth and treaty.

I have been disappointed by that.

Minister pre election in twenty twenty two, your Labor Conference adopted Macarata as a policy. It was precosted at twenty seven point seven million dollars and you even put five point eight million dollar in the twenty twenty two budget to commence work on establishing an independent Macarati Commission to

I'm disappointed because I think there's a miscalculation here politically that somehow standing up for what is right when it comes to First Nations people is no longer popular, is no longer something that people want, and is somehow going to lose them votes.

But as I said in the previous response, we learned from the referendum and the pain and hardship that that created to First Nations people in this country was the fact that there was no bipartisan support and we will not endeavor down that pathway without the support of the opposition the opposite.

I would rather see some backbone from our government to stand up to the opposite side that you know, confused and fear among it last year in the referendum and continue to do so. There is so much truth that is behind standing up against their lies and tactics of intimidation, and that's what I would rather see, a continuing vision and calling out the bad actors.

And finally, a lot of what needs to be done will need to be done by future generations. Do you think they're ready to take up the challenge?

Amongst all of those positive things that did happen last year was a whole lot of young people that stepped up to leadership that stared down those tactics of intimidation that you know, I think built some resilience and some experience and will be much stronger going forward. So yes, I think there is a new generation of Indigenous leaders that are coming through strong and will take us to.

That destination justice and recognition for First Nations people.

Thomas, thank you for your time.

Thanks Daniel.

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