Paul Kelly Releases 'If Not Now' For Yes Campaign

After lending his platform to The Voice referendum earlier this week, Paul Kelly released a new single supporting the Yes campaign.

If Not Now is a pointed track that shows frustration about “a reckoning that’s due” and asks, “If not now, then when? If not us, then who?”

Kelly later sings, “It’s a simple proposition to join the new and old/A chance to make our country larger in its soul/It’s an invitation offered to set our course anew”.

Set to Kelly’s trusted acoustic guitar and a noodling electric guitar, If Not Now is a classic tune from one of Australia’s favourite songwriters. You can watch the music video below.

If Not Now and Kelly’s public social media support for the Yes campaign for the upcoming The Voice referendum is far from the first time he’s shown advocacy for Indigenous rights.

Let’s not forget: this is the man who wrote From Little Things, Big Things Grow alongside Kev Carmody in 1993 and, in 1991, co-wrote the iconic Yothu Yindi protest track, Treaty, with Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett.

“This country is my home. This beautiful country, unique in all the world,” Kelly wrote in his statement on why he’s voting Yes earlier this week. “Our First Australians looked after it and shaped it for over 60,000 years and, in doing so, developed a rich and complex culture that is a gift to us all.”

“Recognition is not achieved with fine-sounding words and feel-good statements but by promising to listen,” Kelly added. “There is a huge and stubborn gap in health, education and opportunities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.” He called the gap “unfair” and said it “diminishes us all”.

Kelly continued, “By saying Yes to a voice and listening to it, we can tackle these problems in a more effective way. And fairness cuts both ways. Having a voice gives people responsibility as well as agency. Being involved in decisions that impact your life brings with it accountability for the outcomes.”

If the referendum is successful, The Voice will be an independent and permanent advisory body led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who will advise the Australian Parliament and Governments on issues that directly face their communities.

The Voice body will be chosen by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, with the wishes of their communities represented.