NEWCASTLE folk band Tripple Effect hope their success in winning the 2020 Alistair Hulett Songs for Social Justice Award will lead to more non-Indigenous Australians supporting the Uluru Statement From The Heart.
Tripple Effect will officially receive the award on Saturday when they perform with roots band Traditional Graffiti at the Newcastle/Hunter Valley Folk Club. Usually the award is presented at the National Folk Festival in Canberra, but it was cancelled due to COVID-19.
The lyrics to the award-winning track, Straight From the Heart (the Makarrata Song), were written by John Sutton, the husband of Tripple Effect's Carrie Jacobi. The three-piece also include's Carrie's sister Lynden Jacobi and her husband Len McCarthy.
No members of Tripple Effect are Aboriginal and they want other non-Indigenous people to support and be educated on the Uluru Statement of 2017, which aims to create constitutional change to give First Peoples a voice in parliament.
"This song is not just about an Indigenous issue, it's a call to action for non-Indigenous people to become part of this," Carrie Jacobi said.
"It's really important that all Australians come on board and support this Statement."
Straight From the Heart (the Makarrata Song) was first performed live in 2018 in Sydney to mark the first anniversary of the Uluru Statement.
Carrie said Tripple Effect plan to record and release the song on their debut album in 2021.
"A lot of our songs are about environmental or social justice issues and have a call for action or meaning to what's happening in the world today," she said.
