Date: Friday 7 July

Start Time: Doors Open at 5pm (with grazing table from Mabu Mabu)

Panel Session begins: 5.30pm to 7pm

Event ends: 7.30pm

Location: Victorian Pride Centre, 79-81 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 3182

Facilitator: Victoria’s Commissioner for LGBTIQ+ Communities Dr. Todd Fernando

Panellists: N’arweet Dr. Carolyn Briggs AM, Sheena Watt MP, Professor Paula Gerber

This coming NAIDOC Week, the Victorian Pride Centre presents a panel discussion on the Voice to Parliament constitutional reform, and the themes of self-determination and human rights in the context of contemporary Australia.

In such an important year for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and for the country in working towards true and meaningful reconciliation, the Pride Centre encourages our diverse communities to engage with and understand the significance of the referendum and what a Voice to Parliament will mean.

The discussion will feature Victoria’s Commissioner for LGBTIQ+ Communities Dr. Todd Fernando as facilitator, and panelists: Boon Wurrung Senior Elder and academic, N’arweet Dr. Carolyn Briggs AM, member of the Victorian Legislative Council Sheena Watt MP, and legal expert, and member of the LGBTIQ+ community, Professor Paula Gerber (non-Indigenous).

Dr. Todd Fernando is Australia’s first openly queer Aboriginal Commissioner. Todd will speak about the Voice to Parliament from First Nations people’s and/or LGBTIQ+ people’s perspectives, his PhD research and the significance and impacts of this latest referendum for and on Rainbow Mob.

N’arweet Carolyn Briggs will speak about the social and political context, journey towards the referendum and potential impacts of a Voice to Parliament from First Nations perspectives.

Professor Paula Gerber will unpack the logistics of constitutional reform and also speak about the Voice through an LGBTIQ+ lens – the influence of the Aboriginal civil rights movement on later campaigns for LGBTIQ+ rights, and the parallels and differences between 2017’s Marriage Equality survey and the Voice referendum.

Sheena Watt is a member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Northern Metropolitan Region. She is the first Aboriginal Australian woman to represent the Australian Labor Party in the Parliament of Victoria. Prior to becoming a member of Parliament, Sheena was an Executive Manager at AFL SportsReady and on the Board of Directors for some of the most important community organisations in Victoria.

Registrations for this event are free, and the panel discussion will be live-streamed via JOY Media’s website for people who are unable to participate in person. This event is open to all, and we highly encourage Rainbow Mob to attend (either at the Pride Centre or online).

The Victorian Pride Centre Theatrette is wheelchair accessible and has a Hearing Loop facility available. There will also be Auslan interpreters on site. Please be advised this event will be photographed and filmed, please let Pride Centre staff or volunteers know if you do not wish to be photographed/filmed.

Stream the event live, via the JOY Media website.