ANU Research Fellow Dr Virginia Marshall on voting 'Yes' for The Voice referendum and against fear-driven propaganda

That was how Dr Marshall, a Research Fellow based at the Australian National University's School of Regulation and Global Governance, introduced herself to the Southern Highland News on Saturday, September 2.

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The Southern Highlands resident was asked for her position on The Voice referendum, which will go to a vote on Saturday, October 14, and give Australians the opportunity to vote 'Yes' or 'No' to a constitution change that recognises the voice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Before she became "doctor" Marshall, Ms Marshall was a mother to four children, one of whom was very sick, and she was struggling through domestic violence.

"It was difficult. I had to think about what the future holds and how I was going to support my kids," Dr Marshall said.

"I think I had about a half-of-a-page resume and I thought 'I really have to find something that I can do'."

Dr Marshall was encouraged to enrol in university, but said she wasn't at all interested because she came from a "very different world". However, she took the advice and completed six degrees in five-and-a-half years.

"I worked at the same time, and I raised my kids. That was through TAFE for a year and then I tried Law/Arts and an Education degree by distance," Dr Marshall said.

"I think my passion was really struggling through my first year of Law but I knew that I needed to do something that was good for my kids, where we could have no more reliance on social security, and a life."

Dr Marshall is "very heavily invested" in the local Aboriginal community, and was one of the first and founding members of the Wingecarribee Indigenous Committee.

"That was a number of years ago, and it was really fantastic," she said.

"We did a lot of community work, a lot of community education on Indigenous culture and Indigenous knowledge."

Through these experiences Dr Marshall "pieced things together".

"I went and taught an Aboriginal program for men in Long Bay Jail as an outreach officer," she said.

"I've done multitudes. I've been an instructor to my peers in the Law Society, I started off as a criminal defence lawyer, and then last year I instructed a Native Title case."

And that's just a little bit of the work that Dr Marshall has undertaken in the almost 25 years since she entered tertiary education as a mature-aged student.

"I've been really driven by showing my kids that you can do something more, and that's a tough thing for some of us," she said.

"You have to find that right thing - that area that you click with."

For Dr Marshall, that was helping people: "that's what comes naturally to me."

In 2017 she became the Australian National University's first Indigenous Postdoctoral Research Fellow, which put Dr Marshall on the international stage, including the Conference of Parties in 2021.

"It's been really great, but there's more to do," Dr Marshall said.

And that's why she says voting 'Yes' matters.

"The background to it is there's a lot of confusion out there," Dr Marshall said.

"This is one of the biggest decisions that we will make on social justice issues, and it's one of the biggest ones we will personally make," Dr Marshall said.

"What I've heard over the years is a lot of people say 'I wasn't responsible for the past, I wasn't responsible for 200 years ago'. But today is a referendum that's going to significantly move this country to another plane. And it is about social justice."

The constitution change would move the relationships to a mature and wholesome relationship, according to Dr Marshall.

"Because even though we might not have Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander people in the workforce where we are, we know that we live together in a very big Australia, and we know that in the future one of our children could be marrying an Aboriginal partner, or developing a family or relationship," Dr Marshall said.

"We are, in this moment in time, at the crossroads of whether we go to embrace and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and acknowledge them as being instrumental in making decisions over the laws and policies that affect them. And that's as big as it gets."

On one side there is a 'No' vote that describes the relationship as one that Australia doesn't support at this time, and Dr Marshall said that if that vote goes through, it would become "very difficult" for all Australians.

"Because the mood would change significantly," she said.

"It will be a more intense mood of little hope, especially for the supporters of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who are many. And also for Aboriginal peoples being valued. And I think that's where we are at the crossroads. Do we value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - the women, the children, the families? And that's really what the 'Yes' vote is about."

Dr Marshall was hesitant to speak on "the Law or the constitution" and would rather focus on "the relationships".

"We have to speak about it," she said.

"This is all about families. Australian families, Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander families, and the Australia we want to make in the future, which is one that is more positive.

"We know that our decision does make an impact one way or another. One person does make a difference."

Southern Highland News asked Dr Marshall to comment on the campaign: If you don't know vote 'No'.

"There's always been campaigns that are built on fear, or just rolling over. They're speaking to Australians and saying that their vote doesn't matter and, 'if you're undecided here's the way to vote'," she said.

"I think Australians really have much more intellect then that, and I think they have the ability to say that this is a really important issue in our time and we are responsible for this vote, then we have to understand the messaging. We have to understand why this is important, and it's not voting 'No' if you're undecided.

"Find out the information, fact check, and if you've done that and you're still maybe not as comfortable with this decision say, 'I'm not going to stand in the way of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the relationships that we want to grow and maintain bigger and better. And I'm not going to just rollover to that fear'."

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