Many of the ideas for the Voice and the coming Referendum were shaped at a summit five years ago. But some of the major fights started there too. In 2017, Indigenous leaders from around the nation met at Uluru for a constitutional convention that sought to build consensus between communities on a journey towards constitutional recognition of Australia’s First Nations people.

That convention resulted in the creation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a crucial document that articulated a vision of a better future. But there was not unanimous support for this process at the summit, sparking many of the arguments within the Indigenous community that have persisted in the lead-up to the 2023 referendum.

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