Last Saturday I had the privilege of marching alongside thousands of West Australians in the Perth Walk for Yes.

It was a positive, uplifting experience. West Australians from all over the State, and of all political persuasions coming together to call for a better future.

As you will know, on October 14 Australians will be asked whether they support constitutional recognition through an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

I will be voting Yes, because I believe through recognition and listening we will get better outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

Saturday’s march filled me with huge optimism about Australia’s future.

It was the best of this country.

Tens of thousands of people all over the country putting aside their differences, working together to fix something that is clearly broken.

But while so many are working towards something positive, the No campaign and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have no plan for addressing the challenges we face.

The Opposition Leader has pledged to hold a second referendum on Indigenous recognition should the October 14 vote be unsuccessful.

Plainly, this makes no sense. Within just a few hours of making the announcement, others in the Opposition said they would oppose sending Australians back to the polls for a second time.

It seems to me that leaders of the No campaign have a pretty low opinion of West Australians.

They rely on scare tactics, misinformation and outright lies.

The No campaign slogan telling people to vote No if they don’t understand something is an insult to the intelligence of all Australians.

What ever happened to finding out more if you are unsure about something?

No campaigner Warren Mundine has said WA and Queensland are “in our pocket”.

Fearmongers playing politics have falsely claimed the Voice is about everything from parking tickets to submarines. They have had to walk back claims about Anzac Day after the RSL complained.

The proposed amendment to the constitution is very simple.

In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:

1) there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;

2) the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;

3) the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.

That’s it.

The amendment will simply see Parliament to create a committee to provide advice to Government on how we can help Aboriginal people.

The Voice’s job will be to provide independent advice to help Parliament and government make better decisions when it comes to issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

It is a common-sense change.

If you think about it — and if you care about how your taxpayer dollars are spent — then you would want to make sure the money is going where it’s needed.

We are creating a body that will simply be able to give advice to government to help us do things better. The body will help government to make sure money gets to where it can do the most good, so we can finally start to close the gap.

Government will remain the decision maker, but decisions might just be better because they have good advice.

This amendment to the Constitution is about doing something real and practical to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are being left behind, with lower life expectancy, higher rates of disease and infant mortality, and fewer opportunities for education and training.

The current system isn’t working.

Voting Yes is an opportunity for change.

It means we will be listening to communities about how to fix things.

Listening to people on issues that affect them.

The No campaign has no plan and no way of making things better. No means more of the same failures.

It means closing the door on progress and nothing getting better.

But a YES vote means on October 14, every Australian will have a once-in-a-generation chance to bring our country together and change it for the better.