As the referendum on an indigenous Voice to Parliament draws closer, the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania is affirming its support for a YES vote on October 14.
Moderator David Fotheringham recently joined other faith leaders at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne in a show of solidarity for the indigenous Voice, and our First Nations people.
The St Paul’s Cathedral prayer service was led by the Very Revd Dr Andreas Loewe, Dean of Melbourne, Anglican Church of Australia, while proud Wirudjuri man Rev Canon Uncle Glenn Loughery, Anglican Church of Australia, gave an Acknowledgement of Country and read the Uluru Statement from the Heart in its entirety.
The Faith Leaders for the Voice gathering further cemented a resolution passed by the National Council of Churches in Australia in June which confirmed support for the Voice and committed the NCCA to “working together for justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians”.
“We believe that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, nurtured and sustained by God for tens of thousands of years, are celebrated at the very heart of what it means to be Australian,” the NCCA’s June resolution said.
“We are informed by the ecumenical advocacy of our indigenous Christian leaders.
“We accept the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and we support a constitutionally enshrined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament.
“Constitutional recognition of the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice is the first step on the pathway for a fairer, more truthful, and better reconciled relationship between First Nations and the people of Australia. We say, Yes.”
Each faith leader at the prayer service was invited to deliver a short message to show their support for the Voice to Parliament.