Conrad Liveris: Empowering Indigenous people through Voice is an economic opportunity that’s waiting for us

As a teenager, I would help my father deliver furniture from his work. Before GPS and smartphones, there was me with a roadmap flipping through pages. Not long after I hit my strides, Dad bought an early GPS. Eventually, the technology got so good I was made redundant. I recall Dad saying to me “the GPS doesn’t tell me to turn left when it means right”. For months now we have heard the legal and moral arguments for the Voice to Parliament. Missing, however, is an economic case. It exists and it is compelling. The Voice will be like a GPS for governments, guiding them on better outcomes for Indigenous people. Economics is about resource allocation, we quantify costs and savings to make better decisions. I have just returned from the NT where I heard from the most senior politicians and health professionals about how hearing the voice of communities was guiding better health outcomes. Improved health outcomes have economic outcomes because it relieves pressure in one part of the system that can either operate less intensely or close, allowing staff and funding to be redeployed where they are more needed. In the same way I know where my money is best spent to improve my life, I trust that if we listen to Indigenous people they will have a better idea of what they need than being told by people in Canberra or on St Georges Terrace. The economic dividends of when Indigenous people do take control are striking, if unfortunately rare. For more than 25 years the Indigenous-led Polly Farmer Foundation has run programs for Indigenous school students. The programs are intensive, often with one-on-one tutoring and personalised around the child, pushing the students to do their best. Indigenous school completion is currently 20 per cent lower than non-Indigenous students. Students participating in the foundation’s programs are 60 per cent more likely to successfully complete year 12. According to Victoria University, students who do not complete Year 12 cost the taxpayer $705,700 each over their lives, or when put together $26.5 billion. While the Voice won’t change that overnight, giving greater direction to policymakers and program deliverers on how they can support greater Indigenous students to complete schools will begin to reduce that cost. In another field, Indigenous-led solutions saved lives and money. Professor Fiona Stanley has highlighted that when Indigenous communities around the country took control of their towns during COVID they were protecting themselves. Given the poorer quality of life and health generally, Indigenous people were predisposed to the worst effects of COVID. Indigenous communities stepped up and closed access to the public during the pandemic. This stopped transmission of the virus which would have resulted in dire consequences. By the time COVID did infect communities they were stocked up, doctors were on notice and communities could respond. This allowed governments to focus their attention first on preparation rather than response, the amount of resources needed in the communities were lessened and the impact was far smaller than what it could have been. Savings are still being fully quantified, but having a patient in a hospital bed costs more than $5000 a night. Having people stay in their homes and communities, continuing to work or contribute is more than that $5000 saving; it means government services don’t need to step in and take care of children, that those people don’t need income support for their time being sick, nor do their employers need to find more staff. The economic saving was likely greater than $20,000 per person per night avoided in hospital. The success of this trust was so great that we will never know the true scale of it all. It is likely that there are tens of thousands of Indigenous people alive today who would have otherwise been in hospitals for weeks or months or, worse, have died. Bunuba woman June Oscar has lived her life demonstrating the huge positive impact Indigenous-led solutions can have. In 2007 she joined with other Fitzroy Cross women to take control of their town by achieving a ban on takeaway alcohol which endures today. Crime, gambling and community tensions are lessened than what they once were. The decisions that Oscar took saved children’s lives and rebuilt their community. Fitzroy is imperfect, but some of those children are now healthy adults working, paying taxes and contributing across the Kimberley and more. Before Oscar and other women stepped up, they were likely to be spending their shortened lives unemployed and lost. Every year, governments spend more than $20 billion on matters directly related to Indigenous people, and many more billions indirectly. These decisions are often made by well-meaning people who live hundreds or thousands of kilometres away. Australia n history shows they regularly get it wrong, sometimes resulting in the most catastrophic and traumatic failures. The Voice is an opportunity for us to trust Indigenous people that they have the ideas and vision to make their lives better, and to use that money more effectively. The greatest legal minds of our generation back the Voice, and the moral arguments for Indigenous self-determination have been made. Like the GPS which replaced me, the Voice will guide better and more efficient decisions than what we have now. The Voice is an opportunity for Indigenous people to set a map to improve their lives, and Australia overall. Empowering Indigenous people through the Voice is an economic opportunity that is waiting for us. Conrad Liveris is an economist and non-profit executive.