I believe our Constitution is one of the world’s great democratic achievements.

It was written in Australia, by Australians, for Australian conditions.

Our community should be especially proud that part of the Constitution was drafted here on the Hawkesbury River. Over the 1891 Easter weekend, during an adjournment of the Constitutional Convention, Sir Samuel Griffith, Sir Edmund Barton, and others boarded the Queensland Government yacht the Lucinda at Brooklyn.

As they sailed along the Hawkesbury River, they drafted significant parts of the Constitution.

Australia is one of the only countries in the world that allows the people, rather than the Parliament, to change on the Constitution – the rule book for our democracy.

This means we all have a duty to make sure that we are informed about what we are voting on.

If you have questions about the upcoming referendum on constitutional recognition through a Voice, I encourage you to visit www.julianleeser.com.au/the-voice. There, you will find 21 short videos answering the most common questions I have received about the Voice.

Referenda are an important opportunity to have our say about the Constitution.

The most successful referendum was in 1967. That referendum amended the Constitution to count Indigenous people in the census and gave the Commonwealth power to make laws with relation to Indigenous people.

That referendum passed with a record level of support, with 90.7% of Australians voting yes.

The vote in our area was even stronger.

For instance, in Beecroft, the Yes vote was 96.9%; at Normanhurst, it was 96%; at Pennant Hills, it was 94.8%; at Berowra, it was 94.3 per cent; at Hornsby, 94.3%.

In total, the booths that now make up the Berowra electorate Berowra voted 95.1% in favour of Yes in that referendum.

As we approach the upcoming referendum, I hope that support across the Berowra electorate will once again be higher than the national average.