Australia’s premier gathering of First Nations begins in remote Arnhem Land on Friday, the first without the powerhouse Yolngu leader Yunupingu who began the festival in 1999.
Garma festival at Gulkula, in north-east Arnhem Land, will open with a memorial to the beloved leader, who died in April after illness, aged 74.
Yunupingu’s brother Djawa said this year’s theme, Djambatj (Yolngu excellence) is also a tribute to his legacy.
“Let me be very clear – this year, grieving the loss of my brother, we are more determined than ever to stay true to his vision of Garma as a place where Australia comes together, and where we forge pathways to the future,” the Yothu Yindi Foundation chairman, Djawa Yunupingu, said in an official statement.
“And we are more determined than ever to find unity in our nation; to see the people of this ancient land live side by side, and walk side by side under the southern stars.”
Yunupingu said this year’s festival was being held at a time when the nation faced many challenges and chances for reform in the referendum on a voice to parliament, expected to be held later this year.
“There will be a vote, and we will decide whether Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – the First Nations of Australia – will be recognised within the Australian Constitution. Recognised and heard through a Voice. This is on all our minds,” Yunupingu said.
“Every one of us will have the opportunity to make our mark when we vote. Together we will change the nation. One way or the other, the nation will change.
“It is a moment in time that offers the promise of a new world. The brilliance of a fire that lights up the land, cleanses the past, and creates new life and new opportunity. Or the fire that leaves charcoal, white ash and a memory of what might have been.
“I choose the fire that burns bright, and lights the way to unity within our ancient southern land,” Yunupingu said.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will deliver a keynote address to the forum on Saturday morning. It had been widely anticipated that Albanese would announce the date for the vote at this year’s Garma, but he has ruled that out, only saying that the date will be between October and December.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, will not be attending, telling Sydney radio station 2GB that he considered Garma to be a “love -in” for yes supporters and advocates.
Dutton was responding to the challenge by the PM to spend “more time in the red dirt” and attend the festival in north-east Arnhem Land with him this weekend.
But Dutton said he was “not going up there to pretend that I’m somebody that I’m not. I’m a genuine person. Straightforward. I’ve looked at this meticulously, I’m not supporting the voice.”
Alongside forums at the festival about how regional and local voices to parliament might function will be discussions about Makarrata, a Yolngu concept meaning “coming together after a struggle”.
The Uluru statement calls for a First Nations voice in the constitution, followed by a Makarrata commission “to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling”.
The government committed $5.8m to a Makarrata commission in its 2022 budget but the Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, has said a Makarrata commission would not occur until after the voice vote.
Some voice supporters expect such a commission would play a role in negotiating future treaties.
The Coalition raised numerous questions about treaty in question time this week, leading to a strong rebuke from yes campaigner, the Balnaves chair of constitutional law and director of the University of NSW’s Indigenous Law Centre, Prof Megan Davis.
“Unless the LNP haven’t been paying attention, the Uluru Statement from the Heart has been around since May 2017,” Davis said.
“They cannot manufacture discord here when the information has been on the public record for over half a decade.
“It’s utterly transparent. Treaty processes are proliferating across the federation and so are truth commissions,” Davis said.
On the eve of the festival, the federal government announced $6.4m for the proposed Garma Institute, a new tertiary and vocational education facility in north-east Arnhem Land. It would mean on-Country learning is available for Yolngu people from early childhood education to university.
“This is a vision for the future – ensuring the next generation of students can live and learn on-country,” Albanese said. “This has been a long aspiration of the Yolngu people.”
