We Move Forward, Says Victoria’s LGBT Commissioner Todd Fernando After No Vote

Victoria’s Commissioner For LGBTIQ+ Communities Todd Fernando sent out a message of hope after Australia voted ‘No’ to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice To Parliament. 

Fernando, a descendant of Kalarie people from the Wiradjuri nation, was the first out queer, Indigenous person to be appointed a commissioner in Australia. 

In a post on social media, Fernando said he was “devastated”, but said that the community will move forward. 

‘Devastated’

“I am truly devastated for the hope that was an Australia where we walked, arm in arm, together. But I am grateful for the lesson we needed to learn: to sit and yarn with each other in much more meaningful and truthful ways,” said Fernando. 

‘Yesterday, the majority of Australians told the truth: they didn’t know, so they voted no.”

Fernando said that the community will heal in private. “We will all live with, and have to accept the decision that was made yesterday. But for now, many First Nations will enter some form of sorry business – because our healing will be private and done in our own cultural ways.”

On Sunday, after the referendum, Indigenous leaders called for a week of silence.  “So begins a week of silence, to mourn the decades of advocacy. Then we move forward, together, because this moment demands we do,’ said Fernando, adding, “And when we do move forward, we will move into a new era, from Reconciliation to Truth-telling.”

LGBTQI Communities Say Yes

More than 60 per cent of Australians voted No to the Voice. Inner-city suburbs in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, which have a sizeable LGBTQI population, overwhelmingly voted ‘Yes’. 

In a survey conducted by advocacy group Equality Australia before the referendum, nine out of 10 LGBTQI Australians said they would vote ‘Yes’. 

The electorate of Melbourne city had the highest number of Yes votes in Australia, with 77.4 per cent of the residents of Melbourne CBD and inner-city suburbs including North Melbourne, Fitzroy, Collingwood and Richmond voting ‘Yes’, reported ABC.

Over 65.8 per cent of the residents of the McNamara electorate, which houses Australia’s first purpose-built LGBTQI community hub in St Kilda, too voted Yes. 

Over 70 per cent of the residents of Sydney electorate voted ‘Yes’. The electorate of Grayndler, which comprises the inner west Sydney suburb of Newtown had 74.3 per cent ‘Yes’ votes – the second highest in the country. 

In the Brisbane electorate, represented by out gay Greens MP Stephen Bates, over 56 per cent of residents voted ‘Yes’.