Turbans 4 Australia founder uses his voice for the Voice

By Samantha Elley

As 2023 Australian of the Year Local Hero, Amar Singh has chosen to use his voice to promote The Voice referendum.

The founder of the charity group Turbans 4 Australia, who were and still are prolific in the post-flood support for the Northern Rivers, wants to get the word out, through his Diversity Now Australia campaign, by circumnavigating Australia over the next two months about the Voice to Parliament.

“As 2023 Australian Local Hero I am touring the country promoting the Voice to religious, multi-cultural and regional communities and getting them on board to say, ‘hey look, let’s make Australia a better place’,” he said.

“After all it’s the Indigenous people who came together with Uluru: Statement from the Heart, to say this is what they need.”

Mr Singh said if it makes life better for 50 per cent of the First Nation’s people, then that must be a good thing.

“When the last referendum was held in 1999 to vote whether Australia should be a republic, there wasn’t much information for multi-cultural people,” he said.

“This time for this referendum I want to get discussions happening and information out there.

“It’s a democratic society, you can vote ‘no’ or ‘yes’, it doesn’t matter but at least have a go, have an informed decision.”

Mr Singh left Sydney on August 1st and visited the village of Kyogle last Thursday to meet locals.

With a highly visible billboard on his ute he plans to make many stops and meet many people in different communities.

“On this 25,000 km round trip around

Australia, I will speak to schools, places of worship, and ethnic community groups to inform them about the significance of the Voice and why multicultural Australia must engage with this important issue,” Mr Singh said.

“I’ve dedicated my life to charity, human rights, and promoting multicultural and religious tolerance, and I believe this moment to be an important first step towards achieving First Nations justice, and I want to bring multicultural Australia along this important journey.

“We need to acknowledge the past and the pain and suffering of our First Nation’s people.

“We share the table with people who were stripped out of their families, that’s not ok.”

As this is a personal and independent initiative, Mr Singh is crowdsourcing to help fund his trip.

If you would like to know more you can email him at diversitynowaustralia@ gmail.com or visit website diversitynowaustralia. org.au