Abrar Dham left Kuwait for Australia 13 years ago.
Settling into eastern Melbourne, she said the Muslim community was not as visible at that time, which made it difficult to find her place in a new country.
“It was a struggle,” Dham said.
Now living in Ballarat and working for the Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council (BRMC), the Iraqi mother-of-two assists newly arrived migrants to settle into their new homeland.
Dham said she understands how important it is for her own voice to be heard, and that’s enough reason to vote yes in the voice referendum.
“It’s a much bigger deal for the Aboriginal people. They are the First Nations people of Australia and the fact that they haven’t been heard at all is not right,” she said.
“We are a multicultural and diverse nation and as multicultural communities, inclusivity is what we’re always advocating for. We want our values and traditions to be respected.”
Nyibol Deng fled wartorn Sudan 20 years ago.
The Ethiopian Sudanese mother-of-five said First Nations people should have been recognised in the constitution a long time ago.
“This should not be questioned,” she said.
“I think it’s very important. These people are the owners of the land and they should have their voices heard.”
Like Deng, Nsonma Adeleye is aware of the displacement that occurs as a result of civil war and tensions between various cultural groups. Hailing from Nigeria, she said she witnessed the impact the war had on her loved ones, and how the government marginalised her tribe.
“You can feel what the Aboriginal people are feeling. I know they have really suffered,” she said.
“This is my opportunity to support the Indigenous voice. If I could vote twice, I would.”
On Wednesday, BRMC hosted a forum on the referendum on the Indigenous voice to parliament to discuss the role multicultural communities could play in the vote.
The panel included Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation project officer Shannen Mennen, Federation University’s associate deputy vice-chancellor of reconciliation and Indigenous studies Andrew Gunstone, and multicultural representatives Chez Dichiera and Lateef Adeleye.
They spoke to an audience of four dozen people from a range of backgrounds, some with their minds decided, others seeking answers.
Neil D’couto left India in 2004. He said he was “curious” to learn how the voice would “affect a multicultural person like myself”.
Mennen said there were a lot of parallels that can be drawn between First Nations and multicultural communities, with many migrants also facing discrimination and barriers to resources such as healthcare and education.
“I feel like they just get it,” she said.
“There’s a lot of connection there and a lot of things we’re arguing for applies to everyone. It’s not just a First Nations thing. It shouldn’t be a First Nations thing.”
Mennen said a yes vote would result in a much more connected Australia, where First Nations communities would be given more opportunities to create a “better Australia” for future generations. That would help Australians of all backgrounds, she said.
“Having community support from all sectors is so important,” she said. “It brings us all together. The Uluru Statement from the Heart was a gift asking us all to take a step forward so we can reconcile and look at our varied history, not our settler history.”
Gunstone said multicultural communities are natural allies of First Nations people.
“They know about racism, they know about discrimination. They know that far more than white Australians do,” he said.
When the panel was asked how to explain the voice’s impact on multicultural communities, Dichiera said that when Australians could work together “as Europeans, as Africans, as Asians, as Aboriginal people, unite the nation, you’re going to get a better outcome”.
Deng said she was grateful to traditional owners for their care of a land she safely calls home.
“If I can be happy in this country and raise my kids here, then the First Nations people deserve to have happiness, to be heard and to be recognised,” she said.
