‘The time is now right’: parties urged to make Indigenous voice an election issue and set referendum date

Left to right: Pat Anderson, Alfred ‘Pop’ Neal, Noel Pearson and Prof Megan Davis at an Uluru Dialogue meeting in Cairns. The Uluru statement leadership have asked Australia’s politicians to make an Indigenous voice to parliament an urgent election issue. Photograph: Bang Media

The creators of the Uluru Statement from the Heart have declared a voice to parliament an urgent issue for the federal election campaign, saying “history is calling” the next parliament to take action.

The Uluru statement leadership has put forward two dates on which Australians could be called to decide, in a referendum, whether to enshrine a voice to parliament in the constitution: 27 May 2023 or 27 January 2024.