My name is Daniel Morrison.
My bloodlines flow from the Noongar, Yamitji, and Giga clans of Western Australia.
I am the CEO of Wungening Aboriginal Corporation. We are an Aboriginal community controlled organisation, with a staff of over 250 people who work across Noongar Boodja.
We run preventative, therapeutic and accommodation services in important areas like alcohol and other drug support, homelessness, child protection, justice, and family and domestic Violence.
Over the last five years, we have expanded rapidly to the point we were able to support nearly 10,000 people across our programs in the last financial year.
I am writing not only as the CEO of this organisation, where I have worked for the last 13 years, but also in my own right as a father of two, who simply wants his children and his grandchildren to have it a little easier than me.
A family legacy of fighting for our rights
There are lots I could write about on this topic. In the end, I have fallen back on what is most important to me. My Moort - Family.
It is what I know. It is what drives me to do what I do.
I grew up spending weekends at barbecues surrounded by the likes of Uncle Rob Riley RIP and my godfather Uncle Bryan Wyatt, may they both rest in peace, as well as others.
They were all fierce advocates, leaders, and role models within our community.
My mother, Jackie Oakley, worked for ATSIC. She is a respected Elder in our community.
My father, Jim Morrison, has spent a lifetime advocating for our community, including his current role supporting survivors of the Stolen Generations. He was just recently awarded the Male Elder of the Year at the Perth NAIDOC awards.
My Grandfather, Arthur, fought for this country in World War II. He was held as a Prisoner of War for 3 years on the Burmese Railway. He put his life on the line for this country.
When he returned home, he was still unable to vote, still excluded from setting foot inside the Perth CBD, was not recognised as a human, and was barred from having a beer in the same pub with the men he fought alongside.
He spoke about these experiences publicly. He never stopped fighting.
In 1928, a deputation of leaders selected by the community met with Premier Philip Collier, to voice their concerns about Aboriginal rights and, call for the repeal of the Aborigines Act 1905 (WA).
My Great Uncle, Wilfred Morrison, was part of this deputation.
The fight for self-determination
We must see self-determination if we want to see change.
This is evident in a local context, where we have seen great results through the culturally informed programs we run at Wungening.
Wungening Moort, an early intervention Child Protection program, has kept 92 per cent of children we have worked with out of the child protection system when the parents were on a path to have their kids taken into care.
Boorloo Bidee Mia, our supported accommodation service, has provided over 30,000 nights of accommodation to rough sleepers who came to us straight off the pavements of Perth. In some cases, they have been sleeping rough for over five years, and we have been able to support 100 people through that facility in under 2 years.
Imagine if these kinds of results could be replicated, across a range of programs, at a national level.
I believe they can.
The evidence and the data would suggest they can. But only if Aboriginal people are given a seat at the table. If we are able to have our voices heard. If we are able to be involved and heard in decision-making processes that directly impact our communities, our families, and our lives.
This referendum is personal for a lot of us.
It transcends individuals. It is much more than headlines and politics.
It is a fight we have been having since colonisation – a fight to be accepted, to be heard, to have access to equal opportunity, and to be able to do things our way.
It has been a long time coming. And we must see change.
If not for us now, then for the children who won’t have a say in this referendum, but who are heavily invested in it.
The children who I hope, will have it a little easier than my generation because they were given the opportunity to be seen and heard.
Daniel Morrison is a Noongar man and the CEO of the Aboriginal community-controlled organisation Wungening and a father to two sons.
