Conversations About The Voice: Opening the Conversation

Join us for the first seminar in the new series, Conversations About the Voice. Our expert panel will provide an introduction to The Voice proposal and referendum process, and there will then be an opportunity for members of the audience (both in person and online) to ask questions of the panel. Drinks, to be held in the Law School foyer, will precede the formal event from 5pm, with the event commencing at 5:30pm. All are welcome: this event is intended for a general audience.

Conversations About The Voice is a series of events exploring and explaining the proposal to change the Australian Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia. The series is organised by the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at Melbourne Law School. The series aims to inform public understanding of, and public debate about, the proposed constitutional change, including the process of change, over the course of the referendum year, with a particular focus on the constitutional and legal dimensions of The Voice proposal. For more information visit the series homepage.

Speakers

Timothy Goodwin is a Barrister, List A Barristers at the Victoria Bar. He practices primarily in commercial and public law. His experience includes administrative law, constitutional law, discrimination and human rights law, government advice work, commissions and inquiries, regulatory action, and native title and land rights work. In 2016 and 2017, Tim was Junior Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory. He serves on a number of boards, including as a Board Member of the Human Rights Law Centre, Museums Victoria and SharingStories Foundation. Tim is a member of the Yuin people of the South East Coast of New South Wales.

Cheryl Saunders is a Laureate Professor Emeritus at Melbourne Law School and was the founding Director of the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies. She has specialist expertise in Australian and Comparative Constitutional Law and a long commitment to contributing to public understanding of constitutional issues, in Australia and elsewhere.

Chair:

Jason N E Varuhas is a Professor of Law at Melbourne Law School, Director of the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies, Director of Studies for Government and Public and International Law, and Director of the international series of Public Law Conferences. He has published widely in public and private law. His scholarship has been cited regularly by higher courts in Australia and across the common law world, and he has significant experience of contributing to law reform processes.

Image credit

We are grateful to artist Ande K Terare (Language group: Bundjalung; Tribe/clan: Minjungbal) for permission to use his painting, ‘Walking Tracks’, in relation to the Conversations About The Voice series. The painting is on display in the Melbourne Law School building.

Ande K Terare was born in 1970 on the North Coast of New South Wales. He gained knowledge of traditional culture from older siblings and other relatives in his family. His paintings depict the traditional ways of life: the land, the natural resources, ceremonies, stories and legends, and contemporary works that are largely influenced by his Aboriginal heritage.