Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Edited by Shireen Morris and Damien Freeman, La Trobe University Press, $32.99.
Statements from the Soul presents the moral case for the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Lawyer, academic and land rights activist Noel Pearson says this is a fateful year with the referendum of the Australian people on the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through a First Nations Voice.
The fervent hope in the foreword is obvious. “Words can make and remake the world. It remains to be seen whether the Uluru Statement from the Heart will count in the history of the Australian people as words that remade Australia.”
“The fulfillment of the Statement will be a matter of law and politics and it certainly has already precipitated movement towards the referendum upon which we will soon vote. It is whether the words speak to the country’s soul that will determine whether or not they will succeed in remaking the nation.”
Writers from different Australian faith communities have given many acute insights and wisdom in this timely collection of impassioned essays from religious leaders arguing for a First Nations Voice to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution.
Contributors from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities powerfully convey why a First Nations voice to parliament is necessary not only legally and politically, but also morally. Drawing on their unique spiritual beliefs, they argue that the Uluru Statement offers a profound opportunity to heal the wrongs of the past and ensure a better future for all Australians. A rallying cry of support across religious and political divisions, Statements from the Soul shows that the Uluru Statement goes to the heart of who we are as a country and is essential to reconciliation.
Shireen Morris, a lawyer, and Damien Freeman, principal policy advisor at the PM Glynn Institute, have been diligent in editing this compilation on society and culture.
Who wrote the foreword in this book? If the answer is correct, one lucky winner will get a copy of Statements from the Soul. Entries should be sent to [email protected] by Monday, 5 June 2023. Names of the winners will be published in Frank Cassidy’s PS-sssst…! column on 6 June 2023.
