Q&A recap: Indigenous panel unpack referendum conundrum

Pearson's thumb was gesturing towards the federal Parliament, which hosted Q&A's all Indigenous panel in the Great Hall, but which is looking likely to maintain its record of being somewhat more hostile when when it comes to welcoming the hopes and expectations of the nation's first peoples.

That much was clear when last week's Uluru Statement From The Heart was greeted in Canberra by some - most notably the deputy PM Barnaby Joyce - with furrowed brows and warnings of overreach in its calls for establishment of a representative body in parliament.

The idea of "a voice" in the chamber may sound simple enough, but Pearson's thumb effectively gave the finger to the notion that convincing the nation's elected leaders of that would be an easy task.

"Remember, we've got two hurdles here," Pearson said.

"You've got to get it through this place. The bigger hurdle is the one here. I think the Australian people are ??? a lower hurdle to get over."

Pearson and Pat Anderson, co-chair of the Referendum Council, elaborated on what the First Nations Voice might look like.

Pearson: "It is a voice to the Parliament rather than the voice in the Parliament.

"In many ways, it will be the Tent Embassy in style. Canvass, demountable sandstone ... It will be a political organisation. If you're going to engage in the democracy, you're necessarily going to be political. And, after all, this House is making policies and laws about us, we should be able to have a say in relation to what they do."

Anderson: "So far, as I have said before, we remain voiceless ??? it must be enshrined in the constitution, so it doesn't get dismissed by stroke of a pen by some current minister."

Refreshingly, no current or even former minster was on hand on Monday night to deliver standard political boilerplate in response to these questions. Instead, the voices were all Indigenous - and Pearson noted that the political response since the Uluru Statement had been typically rushed rather than respectfully thought through.

"We would probably be in a better position today had there been more considered responses other the last 48 hours," he said. "It was a profound moment at Uluru. It was a culmination of the work of these two ladies here [Anderson and Professor Megan Davis] who led the dialogues relentlessly for six months.

"And a consensus position was reached and, you know, it was a bit disappointing and we didn't pause and honour the statement. [Former US president] Lyndon Johnson brought civil rights by playing a very long game ??? but the political leaders of the country have got to do a lot of catch-up. There's been no Lyndon Johnson plotting and trying to crow-bar planets into alignment."

And what, Tony Jones asked of Pat Anderson, should we make of the role of the Prime Minister?

Anderson responded that the times requires that we imagine "a new future - and that's what's not happening in the country today".

"And we don't see that in the leadership, this aspirational approach to change and to a new future. [And] there hasn't been enough time to really reflect. This is a time now after the Uluru Statement, the statement from the heart, to reflect ??? we have people, politicians and others come out, [and] we're going to blow this out of the water before we even begin the trek."

For broadcaster Stan Grant, the road to recognition lies in separating the symbolism of reconciliation from its practical implementation.

"I don't think it matters so much whether we can hold hands," Grant said.

"I think it matters more that we get the mechanisms right so that the people - the indigenous peoples of Australia, have the voice that [we] require, that we have the capacity to have that input into controlling our own lives. And if we reconcile, we reconcile. But when we put reconciliation first before you have the real political structure, we have got it the wrong way around."

The final question came from Canberra student Natarsha Radoll - "one of the few Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school captains in Australia" - who wanted to know what the next step was for young leaders.

Megan Davis celebrated the contribution of young people at Uluru. "It was quite extraordinary," she said.

Pat Anderson: "I'm of the generation where we fought tooth and nail. Hardly had any of us who completed year 12. In fact, I left school at 15. My mother was not educated, never went to school. She was very smart, but it was a policy of the day that she, in fact, not go to school. That she not be educated. That she not learn these new ways.

"So we have come a really long way and for you to stand up there as a school captain is very reaffirming and we're on the right track. This is your turn ??? so you're in a really good place to take up the fighting stick. That's what you need, is a big woman's fighting stick."

The final, powerful words went to actress and playwright Nakkiah Lui, who advised the student questioner: "Just don't shut up. Because this world is going to want to shut you up."

It surely will, but Monday's excellent Q&A was a sign that doing so will become ever more difficult.