Voice campaigner will not be silenced

Posted on 10 Oct 2024

By Matthew Schulz, journalist, Institute of Community Directors Australia

Mayo Thomas — Thomas Mayo wants First Nations advocates to stand up again.

Indigenous leader Thomas Mayo has re-entered the political fray following the bruising referendum campaign that failed to give rise to a Voice to Parliament, and he has a message of hope.

As the nation marks the anniversary of the October 14 referendum vote in 2023, the signatory to the Uluru Statement from the Heart believes the campaign partly succeeded, having encouraged more than six million Australians to declare their support for an enshrined Voice to Parliament.

Thomas Mayo book — Tap to read an extract from Mayo's new book

His determination to continue the fight for constitutional recognition has driven him to release a new book, Always Was, Always Will Be, which serves as a how-to guide for Indigenous allies who want to maintain the campaign.

An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country (Darwin), Mayo has been campaigning for the rights of Indigenous peoples for more than 20 years, including supporting the Uluru Statement’s push for “voice, treaty and truth” since 2017.

He carried the original Uluru Statement canvas around the country and was a leading spokesperson for the Yes campaign in the Voice referendum.

He spoke with Community Directors Intelligence ahead of the official launch of the book in Darwin and said repeated requests from others motivated him to write it.

“A lot of people were asking me: ‘What's next?’, ‘What do we do now that the referendum failed?’” he said.

“We should use hope and resilience to build a fire in our bellies … to give us energy.”

Thomas Mayo

Book maps path forward for campaigners

With the referendum off the front pages, Mayo has spent most of 2024 writing the book, addressing:

the shocking history of mistreatment of Australia’s first peoples
the personal toll from media attacks and social media trolls
the power of hope and resilience
the challenge of misinformation and polarisation
the power of community-led initiatives
systemic racism and inequality
practical steps for advocates of change.

The book provides a foundation for people and organisations wanting to get involved in Indigenous issues, with practical tips on how they can support Indigenous rights through cultural awareness programs, supporting Indigenous businesses, and getting involved in truth-telling about Australia's history.

“I felt that it was incumbent on me as a leader in the campaign to give that guidance.”

Mayo said his choice to provide practical steps for potential advocates was deliberate, and built on his past effort to educate others in The Voice to Parliament Handbook.

“I learned early in the campaign for the Uluru Statement from the Heart that you cannot just take it for granted that people would know how to advocate for Indigenous issues.

“This is a continuation of giving people the tools that empower them to get out there and walk with us.”

Those tools are informed by Mayo’s visceral understanding of the lengths that opponents will go to to spoil a positive and progressive campaign and message.

In the book, Mayo describes the vicious attacks he suffered, especially in the Murdoch-owned media, but also in paid advertisements, which included full-page reports with “mashed together quotes” from past activism.

“There were many instances when I made speeches at rallies for justice. Was I supposed to politely sing “Advance Australia Fair” among aggrieved families after another death in custody, or when another young Indigenous person was put in jail?

“Snip a clip from an impassioned speech here, extract a quote from a debate there, present it all together, and there you have it – the scary Black man trope.”

For him, that marked the lowest point of the campaign, and he considered quitting, but he believed that campaigners must “insulate our hope” against attackers who had tried to intimidate Voice advocates into silence.

“We should use hope and resilience to build a fire in our bellies … to give us energy.”

Time to push against polarisation

Having battled nasty media attacks, Mayo believed Australians should both “resist the polarisation [and] have patience with each other”.

He said the resistance could entail blocking trolls and avoiding amplifying their negative agenda while continuing to share positive messages.

“We need to take the time to explain things to each other and present the truth and help people understand critical thinking and what disinformation and misinformation is. We need to create spaces for those safe discussions.”

It is no mistake that he has named one chapter of the book “Flooding the zone with truth and hope”, in a direct response to the Trumpian approach of “flooding the zone with sh*t”.

“We need to resist with truth and hope.

“If you know what you're doing, if you believe in what you're doing, and if you know what the opposition is trying to do to silence you, then it makes it much easier,” Mayo said.

Mayo urged allies to build better connections with Indigenous people, not necessarily via personal relationships, but also through documentaries, music, movies, books and dance.

Yes supporters urged to stand up again

Mayo urges supporters to pull their 'Yes' T-shirts from their drawers.

On the eve of the anniversary of the failed campaign to enshrine an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, Mayo said the time had come to again push for progress.

Mayo was determined to continue the campaign for justice and recognition for Indigenous people in Australia, saying that the resistance to change is nothing new.

He said First Nations people had a history of facing resistance to progress and had been forced into long campaigns over issues such as equal wages, the right to vote, land rights and native title.

“We're always told ‘no’ before we’ve achieved important steps forward,” he said.

“We've put our arms around our Indigenous allies and built our movement until we’ve achieved those changes and it's the same in this case. That's what gives me great hope.”

“With a voice and recognition in the Constitution, it's just going to take longer.”

That hope drew from a reservoir of goodwill from younger generations, he said.

“Over 60% of Generation Z voted ‘yes’. Our children are continuing to learn from the great Indigenous authors, and illustrators, and film makers. Teachers and elders are going into schools and leading acknowledgements of country. We're headed in the right direction.”

“We created a very solid movement [with] 40% of people certain that they want change.”

He said he believed “our young people will do what we tried to do last year”.

While another referendum is not on the horizon, “if we continue to build on that 40% and support our young people to learn in a very different way than people of my generation … we're going to set them in good stead to take that next step.”

Previous steps had excruciatingly slowly led to equal wages, the right to vote, land rights and native title, and a Voice “will happen”, he said.

“We were on the right side of history.”

Mr Mayo suggested supporters should mark the anniversary by pulling their Yes T-shirts out of the drawer and freshening them up with personal slogans such as: “I love fishing … and I voted Yes”, “I tell bad Dad jokes … and I voted Yes”, or “Always was, always will be …Yes”.

“The people who voted ‘no’, many of them didn't vote ‘no’ with malice in their hearts. They voted ‘no’ because they're busy and because … someone like Peter Dutton … basically misinformed them and confused them.”

He said many of the no voters were taken in by the slogan “If you don't know, vote no”, which resonated with people who were experiencing “all the pressures of life, the cost-of-living crisis, and all the disinformation flying at them”.

“I don't think that they are opposed to progress.”

“So wear those shirts, continue to fly the flag, and that creates conversations. And when you have the conversations, resist polarisation, have patience, listen to people, understand where their misconceptions are coming from, and then you'll know what evidence to give them to help them. You might even give them a copy of the book.”

Mr Mayo praised the sector allies who had stuck with the cause.

“I appreciate all of the not-for-profits that are continuing to work with us as members for Allies of Uluru.

“Get that wind back into your sails, is what I want to say. I believe that we succeeded in some ways last year, and if we persevere, we're going to achieve that change.”

Read an extract from Mayo's book.