John Farnham — The Voice of change

Australians have a history of coming together through music, sports and culture, and the Voice Referendum should grant another opportunity to unify us, writes Naomi Snell.

I GREW UP listening to John Farnham, Paul Kelly, Crowded House, Midnight Oil, Daryl Braithwaite, Hunters and Collectors, and with rural heritage, Slim Dusty.

The fact that some of Australia's most iconic music legends are leading the charge for progress today in the lead-up to the Voice Referendum brings me hope.

Spring has just sprung and I can't be the only one who can smell the new growth, better weather and sweet scent of change. There's a whisper in the wind and it's not just Johnny's Jack telling us ‘You're the Voice’ has become the soundtrack anthem for the movement to include an Indigenous Voice to Parliament into the Australian Constitution.

It's a whisper that also sounds like a "Yes" vote from Paul Kelly who has even written a song, ‘If Not Now’, for the cause. And the whisper is getting louder.

Historically, music and concerts like Woodstock have often been a catalyst for social change and progressive political change. Today in Australia, we are being given an option and on 14 October, the future will quite literally be in our hands.

Peter Dutton needs another referendum to find his Voice

Peter Dutton is confused.

Do we want an inclusive and united Australia where we get to sing together by voting in recognition of Australia's original custodians having a say in their own future? Will we recognise the struggle, displacement and disadvantage that has been brought about by systemic human rights atrocities and discrimination since the very beginning of colonisation, as a direct result of imperialism?

Funny, isn't it? Of all the songs ever covered by world-famous rock musicians who are born artists, ‘God Save the Queen’ is not one that has predominantly featured. And who can blame them? I've never sung it either — not even when they tried to make me in Brownies (think Girl Guides in a brown tunic) way back when. Truly, I wanted Australia to be a republic before I knew what a republic was. I digress.

Back then, I was in grade three. Yothu Yindi released ‘Treaty’ and at a primary school in the humble northern suburbs, our teacher – a man who was well before his time – taught us to puff out our chests with pride to belt out every word. The same year, I won a talent quest when I got up and sang John Lennon's ‘Imagine’, unaccompanied, to a room full of adults and strangers. And while he may not be Australian, his sentiments about peace and unity are as relevant today as ever.

In the same era, I could give a rousing rendition of Slim Dusty's ‘Plains of Peppimenarti’. My son, who is a similar age to what I was back then, occasionally insists on going to sleep to Midnight Oil's ‘Beds Are Burning’. By the way, I recently rewatched the video for Johnny's ‘That's Freedom’ and the smell of 1980s Australia – mullets and all – left with me such nostalgia for childhood I could barely breathe. But again, I digress.

#1 TOP IA STORY OF 2022: John Farnham — The Voice of Australia

John Farnham was close to death earlier this year and so our top story of 2022 receiving over 75,000 views reflected the depth of affection in our nation for the iconic Australian vocalist. Well done to Naomi Fryers for so brilliantly capturing this love in this moving September piece.

Two things that so often go hand-in-hand are music and sport. We only need to think of Paul Kelly's iconic ‘Leaps and Bounds’ to remember that we are high on the hill, looking over the bridge to the MCG. This is a venue that has showcased many of Australia's greatest sporting talents from Eddie Betts to Buddy Franklin and Shai Bolton. (I'm an original 1980s-born Richmond supporter raised in the Outer every winter weekend in memorable childhood history.)

We need to remember pivotal moments in history — and listen and learn. We need to give a nod to Michael Long who has famously undertaken “The Long Walk” and Nicky Winmar who so memorably took a stand on the hallowed turf in 1993.

The calls for recognition of Australia's First Peoples in sport, music and society at large are not new, but the opportunity we have recently been granted to walk the talk is. And it doesn't just smell of hope and change. It sounds like unity and a chorus where for the first time in Australian history, we all get to sing in harmony together.

It's our democratic right to change the future of our country for the better and make it inclusive by not just paying lip service to how we aren't inherently a racist nation. And I am hoping that people who've sung to artists supporting the cause and cheered for the sporting achievements of Indigenous athletes (such as Cathy Freeman's 400 metres) will finally join in the chorus of Johnny's iconic anthem.

And sing it one last time like an iconic Johnny Farnham “comeback”, but this time in unison with our First Nations brothers and sisters. The Referendum's rock revolution is nigh. I'm voting "Yes"!