“Forget about the politics. This should never have been a political issue. This is a human rights issue.”
Those are the words of ultra-marathon runner and former politician Pat Farmer, who ran into Seymour at 5pm on Wednesday, September 6.
Running 77km on Wednesday alone, he is 11,000km into a 14,000km run around Australia supporting a Yes vote in the upcoming Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
Mr Farmer’s passion for the Voice is so strong that he said everything he had done in his life had led to this moment.
“There are genuine audiences out there that want to know more about the voice and that’s my purpose of being out here on the road,” Mr Farmer said.
“There’s two things I want to say.
“The first is that this won’t hurt anybody in this country at all. The system that we’ve had in place for basically 200 years simply hasn’t worked.
“And, secondly, that it’s most important we close the gap.”
Mr Farmer said issues around incarceration, health, barriers to education and a lack of housing and infrastructure in Indigenous communities needed to be addressed.
“The system we’ve had in place for the past 200 years simply hasn’t done it,” he said.
“I haven’t found anybody, even the people that are No voters, around the country that have said to me that the system we have at the moment works.
“Everybody agrees that it doesn’t. The Voice to Parliament is an opportunity for Aboriginal people themselves to be able to be in control of their own destiny. And to have a say in their own destiny.
During Mr Farmer’s visit to Goranwarrabul House in Seymour, he learnt about the work the group does, including sending out food parcels to about 150 residents each week.
Despite this contribution to the community, Goranwarrabul House co-ordinators have not once been visited by local MPs or Mitchell Shire councillors.
To Mr Farmer, this highlighted the need for the Voice — too often Indigenous communities are not represented by their elected officials.
“When you’ve got that sort of poor representation [in the current system], no wonder you need to have a Voice,” Mr Farmer said.
“The question that everybody will be asked at the referendum is simply this: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be recognised in our constitution through a voice directly to parliament on issues that concern them. Yes or No.
“If you turn that question around the other way. To look at what the No campaigners are saying, it says we do not recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“And we will not allow a voice directly to parliament on issues that concern them.
“When you think about it like that, nobody in Australia that I’ve met, and I’ve travelled around the whole of this country, there’s not one person who could possibly agree with that.”
Mr Farmer said he hoped Australians read the question asked in the referendum and made a decision based on the facts rather than political allegiances.
“Forget about all the rhetoric that has been put out by the National Party and the Liberal Party,” he said.
“I was a member of the Liberal Party, and I’m quite disgusted with the fact they have politicised this.
“But, having said that, all I’m asking people to do is look at the question and vote Yes or No.
“And I don’t know any Australian with an ounce of empathy that could look at that question and not think ‘yes’.
“It was put up by the Indigenous people themselves, this has not been brought forward by a political party.
“Aboriginal Australians deserve this opportunity. They deserve this chance.”
Mr Farmer said he’d received an excellent reception everywhere he had been on the run.
“There’s so many people that are in awe of what I’ve done before and what I’m doing at this point in time,” he said.
“For them, it’s an amazing fact that somebody has run around this country in every weather condition and still keeps pushing on.
“They want to know what motivates me, and of course, it’s the cause.
“This is greater than any gold medal at the Olympics. It’s greater than any of the charities I’ve ever run for in the past.
“When I look at it like that, people say, ‘Why is this more important?’ and my answer is this is a way of solving an issue once and for all.
“Whereas a lot of the charities you help, there continues to be a problem after that moment, so you can only help them incrementally, or just a little bit.
“With this, we have the opportunity in my lifetime to be able to shape the future of this nation, and for us all, as it says in the Uluru Statement, to walk together as one.”
Mr Farmer began his epic run on the steps of the town hall in Hobart and said he couldn’t wait to get to the finish line at Uluru on October 11.
“It’s interesting to note that they have a Liberal premier down there in Tasmania, and he’s very supportive of the Voice,” he said.
“So once again, I want to state this should not be a political issue at all. I want people to see it as the right thing to do.
“Anybody who tries to take a political stance on this and tries to work a political angle, quite frankly, shouldn’t be in the job, because Australians are better than that.”
On a tight schedule, Mr Farmer plans to finish his run on Wednesday, October 11 at Uluru. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese plans to meet him at the finish line.
If you would like to follow Mr Farmer on his journey or to see the places he’s already been, go to runforthevoice.com/