There’s long been a fundamental issue underpinning Australia’s approach to Indigenous affairs. The state makes laws specifically about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples without any protected mechanism giving them a say in the process.

The proposed Voice to Parliament sought to remedy this democratic deficit. Had the referendum succeeded, it would have established a formal representative connection between Indigenous peoples and the Commonwealth parliament.

The Voice proposal was a reform to democratic representation. Its failure was a missed opportunity to renew Australian democracy.

But it was also an explicit choice: to sustain the political subjugation of Indigenous people by denying them representative channels for making their voices heard on matters that affect them.

This enduring structural limitation leaves the parliament without any representative mechanism to consult with, or be accountable to, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Even as we have seen increasing numbers of Aboriginal members in the federal parliament, they do not represent all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Nor are they empowered to. In the 125 years since federation, there has never been a Torres Strait Islander representative at the Commonwealth level.

A key aspect of political accountability is the ability of a constituency to remove their representative at the ballot box. If a majority feels their MPs have failed to advance their interests or........

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