Australian Idol winner and 2018 Eurovision contestant Jessica Mauboy joins the campaign for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians.
Campaigning for justice
After releasing her highly successful album ‘Hilda’ earlier this year, the Australian singer now lends her voice to more political avenues.
Gracing the cover of Marie Claire Australia this week, Mauboy joins fellow Aboriginal Australians Miranda Tapsall and Samantha Harris in calling for Indigenous people to be acknowledged in the country’s constitution.
2020 marks 250 years since James Cook’s first voyage to Australia, but Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s voices still aren’t constitutionally enshrined.
Speaking to Marie Claire, Mauboy explains how close to her heart this issue and movement is. “For me, Indigenous constitutional recognition would mean freedom”, she says. “We need to lift the (constitutional) barrier to move forward.”
Mauboy is a proud Aboriginal Australian and has always celebrated and spoken up for her history and the Indigenous people. “I feel like I was born cultural. I am Darwin, I am the Northern Territory, I am the saltwater, the freshwater and the desert,” Mauboy told Marie Claire.
“For me, Indigenous constitutional recognition would mean freedom”
Speaking to The Sun-Herald, Mauboy said constitutional recognition might seem unimportant for people who are not Indigenous but for Aboriginal Australians “it’s about putting a line in the sand on what has happened before and giving us a way to go forward together”.
“Constitutional recognition is a powerful symbolism for Indigenous people,” she said.
The Uluru Statement
Mauboy lends her voice to the campaign calling for reform and recognition to Australia’s Indigenous people, as set out in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
The 2017 statement calls for three key reforms – constitutional change, legislative change and a process of truth telling.
The details of the demanded reforms can be found at the Uluru Statement website. Marie Claire have also produced a guide to the statement that runs alongside their feature.
Life after Eurovision
Already one of Australia’s most established pop stars even before representing Australia in Lisbon, Mauboy has remained in the public eye.
Her new album ‘Hilda’ charted at number one in the ARIA album charts, while Mauboy’s music video for ‘Little Things’ was nominated for Best Video at the 2019 ARIA Music Awards.
With four top 10 albums and sixteen top 20 singles under her belt, Mauboy is one of Australia’s most known and celebrated pop musicians.
This shift into this new sphere marks Mauboy’s first established attempt to use her voice for explicit political change. The singer recently said that she has finally “been able to break free” from those around her in the music industry who had urged her “not to be too political”.
Mauboy is hoping that Australia’s policy makers can show that ‘We Got Love‘ in the New Year and finally establish the long absent rights for Indigenous people of Australia in the constitution.
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