Where is the love? Michael Long walks the talk for Voice

“The real focus is closing the gap. All those things like life expectancy to housing. I mean, we were talking about that stuff 20 years ago and it’s still applicable today,” he says.

“I don’t want to be talking about closing the gap in another 20 years or 30 years. Let’s do something about it, you know, and part of that is being able to advocate on issues that affect Indigenous people. We haven’t got it right yet. It’s unbelievable that in 2023 we haven’t got this right.

Long and walkers at the Glenrowan Primary School.Credit: Justin McManus

“We can’t do symbolic any more. It’s got to be action … symbolic stuff – we did that 19 years ago, we did that every year with reconciliation, that’s important. But there’s something bigger that needs to be done. And that’s that practical action. No more talking. No more discussions.”

On the footy field, Long was at his best in small spaces. He had an uncanny awareness of his surroundings that allowed him to bring teammates into the game while avoiding his opponents. He let his feet and hands do the talking.

In Wangaratta’s Apex Park, alongside Peris and ultramarathon runner and former Liberal MP Pat Farmer – who is running more than 14,000 kilometres around Australia to support the Voice – a crowd of 200 or so people assembled.

Long has never been a natural public speaker or performer, and he chooses his words carefully.

AFL legend Michael Long during an event to welcome him to the ACT, in Canberra on Wednesday 13 September 2023Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

So under cloudy skies and surrounded by grey gum trees, Farmer, who has been running about 80 kilometres a day since April, speaks to the crowd first about why Australians should vote Yes.

“Usually, the people that say ‘I’m after some more detail’ are the people that already know the detail,” he says.

“Let me turn that [referendum] question on its head. If you listen to the No campaigners, the question says this: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should not be recognised in our Constitution and should not have a Voice to government on issues that involve them … I haven’t found one person when I posed that question in a negative term that could possibly agree with it.”

While Farmer seeks to persuade, Peris thunders.

Locals and supporters walking through Wodonga.Credit: Justin McManus

“When all these people are saying, the naysayers, we don’t want race in the Constitution – it is already there. So we were counted back then [after the 1967 referendum]. Now we’re asking to be seen and heard … going forward half a century. And the Constitution, the founding document, the birth certificate of this country, doesn’t have the firstborn on it.”

“Our DNA is on this continent. This continent didn’t come up from the ocean in 1788 and say, ‘Hello, no man’s land!’”

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And Long? The crowd has to lean in when he finally begins to speak.

“We can fly to the moon. We can do amazing things, invent amazing things. But we can’t fix what’s in the back of our nation. It’s time. It can’t happen in another 20 years,” he says.

“Where has the love gone?”

He calls on King Charles to be a leader, as his mother, Elizabeth, was for so many decades, and publicly back the Voice.

The next morning, as we chat, I ask Long if he is serious about flying to London to petition the King.

Of course, comes the quick grin and reply.

But first, he has to get to Canberra. And he will need a passport, too.