Why not support the voice?
The ‘Progressive No’ movement has pretty valid reasons to be against it, though as a non-Indigenous Australian I find it very difficult to consider voting no myself. The fact that I actually get to vote on this is honestly ridiculous, particularly when my vote is worth twice that of someone who it is supposed to be benefiting.
I mean, the fact that Dutton is supporting No would be enough reason for me to vote Yes
Edit: I am not saying this is the only reason. I very much believe that the first nations peoples should have a Voice
The coalitions entire thing has been sewing doubt by lying about what the voice is and how it was started. I’m disappointed because their efforts most likely will result in nothing happening. And for what? They gain nothing from knocking the voice back.
They gain a maintenance of status quo and a liiitle bit more fearmongering
A few of my good friends are indigenous and their whole families are against it. I haven’t really heard a good reason why this “voice” will make any difference - can anyone enlighten me? It just doesn’t seem like it will have any actual power assigned with it. The elected person will say “You need to stop mining our land” and the government will go “lol no” and keep mining.
Based on how many indigenous groups our country was split up in, having a single voice representing them all doesn’t seem like it will work either.
I posted this down below, but my personal take on this is that the Voice is meant as a symbol. A symbol embedded right into our constitution. One that cannot be hidden away behind govt bureaucracy. One that isn’t beholden to the party machinery like so many aboriginal MPs are. The most important thing is that it gets aboriginal people a foot in the door. A lasting change that can be used as a stepping stone to Truth and Treaty. Something that will let them constantly be noticed by parliament instead of just having a bone thrown to them whenever a pollie needs to score political points.
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That was supposed to be the point of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, though. There is literally a quote on their website from the Adelaide dialogue that reads:
Out in the communities, they are the last people to be informed about what is going on. All of a sudden, legislation or something else is happening and they just don’t know anything about it.
The fact that there are still Indigenous communities that have literally never heard of the Voice, as has been reported in the last couple of weeks, is a concern. Obviously it’s unrealistic to expect everyone will be in the loop but it does feel like a step has been missed somewhere.
To be bluntly honest, if Lidia Thorpe is against it, it’s probably a good move.
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i mean, she raises valid concerns, but on balance they don’t outweigh the net gain. I’m reticent to just dismiss her concerns as they kind of highlight why this is so vital, the cultural cynicism and distrust in Australian politics takes on a far more visceral and personal bent for Indigenous Australians after all(rightly so).
