ROEBOURNE MEDIA COMPANY PROMOTES ‘YES’ VOTE IN PILBARA
A Roebourne cross-platform media company has created resources to promote a ‘Yes’ vote in the Voice referendum.
Woodside Energy has commissioned Aboriginal-owned Weerianna Street Media to produce resources for people in the Pilbara.
Woodside’s Corporate Affairs Head of First Nations & Communities, Sharon Reynolds said the resources were part of Woodside’s plan to raise awareness within the regions of the ‘Yes’ campaign.
The main resources take the form of digital and print posters and short videos containing addresses to Yule River attendees by the Hon. Linda Burney MP, Minister for Indigenous Australians, and Thomas Mayo, Voice campaigner.
Weerianna Street Media Producer Robyn Marais told Ngaarda Media: “We researched a lot of current affairs and programs like National Press Club broadcasts, to understand the arguments, and also online articles and texts like The Voice to Parliament Handbook: All the Detail You Need.”
She said the project’s emphasis on local views and locally made resources meant speaking to Pilbara people was the best way to target the messages.
“For example, I learned in speaking with local First Nations people that they were troubled by the question of whether a ‘yes’ vote meant they were ceding sovereignty,” she said. “I felt that a referendum that included non-Indigenous voters could not have anything to do with First Nations sovereignty and was relieved to find out this is true.”
One poster features local Ngarluma elder Kerry Churnside expressing her support for the Voice.
The quote on Ms Churnside’s poster says: “We have our own governing system that we go by. We’ve been bringing that through from generation to generation. Our governing system, what we are born into, is always the same. It does not change, unlike government policies, always changing all the time.
“It’s important that we get constitutional recognition because the Australian Constitution isn’t easy to change.
“If we have a Pilbara Voice advising a constitutional Voice it will be for always, like our cultural governing system.”
Ms Marais said Weerianna Street Media is grateful to Kerry Churnside for her participation.
Weerianna Street is now looking for some strong local men who are confident in voting ‘yes’ to come forward and appear on a poster. “It’s as easy as having your photo taken and having a five-minute yarn to work out some wording,” said Ms Marais.
Ms Marais said her research led her to believe some ‘no’ campaigners are not logical or truthful. She says a Voice could unlock consultation on treaty, and that saying ‘yes’ is a first step to
And, as Linda Burney told the Yule River meeting “The thing that I did want to say is: that what we understand is that you get better outcomes if you listen to local people.”
On Friday, Ms Marais spoke to Ngaarda Radio: