The leader of an Aboriginal community has met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the Voice to Parliament campaign to ask for help to make his vulnerable Indigenous community more liveable.
Doomadgee Aboriginal Shire Council chief executive Troy Fraser made the trek from remote north-west Queensland to Canberra to voice his town's urgent need for flood-resilient infrastructure after the region was inundated in March.
Meanwhile, the cost of living has long been a plight for residents who struggle to afford exorbitant grocery prices at the town's only store, run by a Queensland government statutory body.
Several weeks have passed without a response from the long list of ministers Mr Fraser met with, and he is not holding out for solutions to be actioned anytime soon.
As Mr Fraser returns bare-handed to a reeling community, which has been isolated by floodwater for more than three months, he is concerned advice provided by a Voice to Parliament could also fall on deaf ears.
"I support a Voice to Parliament, but to have a voice, someone has to listen," he said.
Actions over ideals
Concerns a Voice to Parliament would play a symbolic role rather than drive meaningful results is one echoed in recent discussions.
"The key question is, how is the government going to respond to representations made by the Voice?" said Anne Twomey, a constitutional lawyer and professor emeritus at the University of Sydney.
"Parliament could decide, in relation to making certain categories of decisions, 'we do not have to listen to what the Voice says'," Ms Twomey said.
The proposal for the Voice to Parliament recommends that at least 35 local and regional Voices be created across Australia, to undertake community engagement and improve policy, program and service delivery outcomes for communities in the regions.
The local and regional Voices would inform the national Voice, according to the proposal.
Mr Fraser hoped it would mean remote Aboriginal communities would not have to call out so loudly to turn heads in Canberra.
One-off payments had been offered by the federal and state governments to residents across the Gulf of Carpentaria who had been directly impacted by floodwater, while grants totalling $12 million were announced for primary producers and businesses last week.
Mr Fraser welcomed the temporary relief but said concerns for the future resilience of the Doomadgee community were going unheard.
"There needs to be action taken by the government to ensure having a Voice means our people are actually heard," he said.
"We've been to Canberra, we've met with everyone we could in parliament.
"We have to build resilient communities and a big part of that for us is dramatically improving access, energy, food and fuel.
"And now we need to ensure we are still part of a conversation that will see some changes in our remote communities."
'The Voice is not talked about'
Mr Fraser said he had noticed a stark contrast in the types of people who were engaged in conversations about the Voice to Parliament.
"My biggest concern is that, on the ground in our communities, the Voice is not talked about," he said.
"You go to parliament, or you go to a city like Brisbane, and these things are talked about in particular corridors.
"But out here, in our communities, no one is talking about it. It wouldn't be in the top five issues on the minds of our people," Mr Fraser said.
He said greater engagement with remote Indigenous residents was needed in order for a Voice model to be effective.
"If we don't get an opportunity to provide feedback on this, I don't see how it is going to be a representation of Indigenous kin."
A spokesperson for the prime minister told the ABC resilience-building would be a priority in flood recovery efforts.
"The prime minister understands the importance of repairs which help build resilience in the face of future flooding and natural disasters and our recovery efforts will focus on that," they said.
"We understand there will be further requests from the state government for the region through the DRFA [Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements]."
