Indigenous advocate and consitutional lawyer Megan Davis is a driving force behind the Voice to Parliament, and she says her humble Logan roots remain instrumental to her cause.
Ms Davis is Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous and professor of constitutional law at UNSW.
She is a leading constitutional authority who has served as an Indigenous-rights expert at the United Nations, and is now a face of the Voice to Parliament.
She grew up in a housing commission at Eagleby and was raised by a single mum who “still lives in Eagleby in the same home”.
Ms Davis attended Eagleby State Primary School, St Joseph’s and Trinity College at Beenleigh, where she said she made fond memories playing sport.
She now lives in Sydney, but said she hasn’t forgotten her Logan heritage.
“It doesn’t matter where you go, you’re always bumping into Logan kids,” she said.
She said the city has played a major role in her advocacy and outlook on life.
“Many of the families we played with and lived among were also poor and that has a huge impact upon the way you think about the world,” Ms Davis said.
“There were periods where there was neglect from local and state governments, and that has an impact on you in terms of the infrastructure you have around you and the resources you have as poor families.
“And that looks really different when you move into wealthier suburbs, so that has a formidable impact on you as well.”
She said Logan is diverse and severely underestimated, with her “most interesting conversations about politics and race” occurring in Logan.
“There are just non-pretentious, well-informed and sophisticated arguments from communities and people in and around Logan, who are really the worker bees of multiculturalism in this country,” she said.
“It’s places like Logan that make Australia a success when it comes to multiculturalism.
“I don’t think communities like ours get enough credit for that.”
It’s for these reasons, Ms Davis said, that the Voice would be so beneficial to Indigenous Logan locals.
“There’s a very young population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Logan, so the hope is that they won’t have the same struggles [the older generation has] had,” she said.
“Because it’s very difficult to have Logan voices amplified to Canberra where that serious decision making happens in relation to many policies and laws that impact people and families.
“We just don’t get a seat at the table.
“The Voice will provide a Logan voice straight to Canberra.”
Over the weekend Ms Davis returned home for the National NAIDOC Awards in Brisbane.
She said the Logan spirit greeted her immediately.
“The one thing I notice whenever I come home is this incredible sense of community and communities working together,” Ms Davis said.
“That’s something I don’t get anywhere else.”
