To be shocked that Australia voted NO on this referendum?

[koalaknickers]

"The Voice to Parliament was proposed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a 2017 document crafted by Indigenous leaders that set out a roadmap for reconciliation with wider Australia.

Australia's Indigenous citizens, who make up 3.8% of the country's 26 million population, have inhabited the land for about 60,000 years but are not mentioned in the constitution and are, by most socio-economic measures, the most disadvantaged people in the country."

Australia rejects Indigenous referendum in setback for reconciliation (msn.com)

I have family out there. I just assumed that they would have voted YES. I hope they did. Perhaps I should ask them.

Everyone should get one vote - no more no less. Why should indigenous people, get more of a say than anyone else?

The minute some get more of a say than others in any society then that is divisive and will make matters worse.

Example?

This country voted for Brexit! I think we’re a pretty racist country.
The result of this vote is awful. I feel awful for all those who campaigned. It’s grim.
But when I lived in Australia the overt racism at times was quite shocking.

I’m Not reading any further or I’ll end up tearing my hair out in frustration.

The acknowledgement of First Nations Peoples as the First Australians could not be legislated. It’s a constitutional matter, a changing of the constitution. This demands a referendum. Australia is the only former British colony that does not acknowledge it’s First Peoples.

I’d like to say here that referendums in Australia do not have the same rules as referendums in the UK.

2. legislating a Voice to Parliament - could be done. But the following govt, any following govt, could dismantle it if it wanted to. There would be nothing to stop dismantling it - which is exactly what we’ve seen happen at least 7 times now by successive governments. The voice needed to be entered into the constiution - (therefore necessitating a referendum) so it would always be there. Once it had got a yes vote, it would have gone to Parliament to be legislated; and been batted around by the two houses until a suitable form for it was agreed upon by both houses. Then, the form of the Voice could be changed by legislation, but the Voice itself, a non legislative body to parliament to advise government on matters pertaining to only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People always had to exist. The, form itself could be changed. It would have no legislative power and could only advise on things pertaining to First Nations people.

Instead, we will go in as we have before, massive amounts of money spent trying to close the gap between living standards and life spans. eg A First Nations child, on average, will not live as long as the child she is sitting next to in school. I believe the life span gap is at least 8 years. At any rate, it’s too great and not getting smaller. This is terrible. Shameful. Heartbreaking.

I’d just like to add, As the votes come in we are seeing that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders who live in the remote areas have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Voice. This contradicts the ‘no’ campaign, which misinformed the country and said the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples did not want the Voice - At least Two opposition MPs were very vocal about this. (btw, the oppositions Shadow Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs resigned from his ministry because he did not agree with the way his own party was going. He’s a leading proponent of the yes campaign.

Now, very disturbingly, we have those two MPs, the ones who were very vocal about the First People not wanting the Voice saying that the voting system in these remote communities were not adhered to/interfered with (I think they are trying to say voters were coerced. They are casting doubt on the Australian Electorial Sustem. Who does that remind you of? It’s very Trump -Ian. And bullshit. Up until these figures started returning there was no questioning of our voting system by them. Btw, it’s an excellent system /never been questioned before.

This is the new world we’ve entered where lying is winning, and fuck truth and honesty.

It looks as though, wevare starting to see the Brexit Version of ‘buyers remorse’ - it’s been reported that a number of ‘no voters’ have posted on social media complaining of being lied to and regretting voting no. We shall see.

Please remember that many millions of Australians voted yes. They chose to believe what they were told by the First Nations Voice leaders - that more than 80% of First Nations People wanted the Voice:. This was also confirmed by numerous polls.. It’s looking like that was exactly correct.

Why did ‘no’ win? Partly Because of lies and misinformation - the media had not corrected during the campaign btw - although they have started writing and talking about it now - please note that Murdoch’s media controls about 70 percent of news media in Australia, and that he was not supporting constitutional acknowledgement nor the Voice.

Why else didn’t the referendum pass?

Also because there has not been a referendum passed in Aus that did not have bipartisan support of the two major parties. And at the beginning of all this, there was every indication that it would be bipartisan. It was the Opposition party that had, when in government, asked the First Nations people to design a form
of advisory body that became the Voice.

When the new govt was elected, this was one of the platforms on which they ran - a promise to hold this referendum. And things were looking pretty good. There was majority support for Yhe Voice until April this year. But you see it drop away from April on.

What happened in April? The opposition saw a political opportunity to increase their abysmal popularity numbers. The Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton’s popularity rating was in the 20 - 30 percent range. Extremely low. In April Dutton and his fellow MPs politicised the Voice and ceased any support for it, and started arguing against it. At first he said ‘no’ to both parts of the referendum question, but then, realising that Australians weren’t responding overly much to this, he changed tack a little and proposed that when in government he would hold a referendum to acknowledge First Nations People in the Constitution - (a referendum for the first part of the question). Many Australians were more happy with that, but also many were not, and wanted to see First Nations people get the non legislative Voice that had been requested by the former PM of the Previous government of which Peter Dutton had been a prominent member. Minister for Defence at one point. Minister for something else at another: He’s been a pollie or trying to be one, all his working life: He held important ministries.

Since April much misinformation and many lies went unchallenged by media, it was overwhelming. And on Saturday the majority of Australians voted no.

But many millions voted yes. We are divided.

To top this off Peter Dutton has already walked back his promise he made, for the last 5 or so months, to hold a referendum to acknowledge The First Nations People on the constitution when (if) he wins government. There will be now be no referendum should he win office.

This has divided the nation. I’ve seen nothing like it in Australia in my lifetime. I’m nearer 70 than 60. Historically, the WW1 years saw something that was perhaps as equally divisive. I’ve never lived through a time like this in Australia.

Take this away: if it had been a bipartisan agreement all along then it would have very likely have gotten through. And we had little reason, no reason really, to believe it wouldn’t be bipartisan when the process began about 5 years ago - I’m a bit hazy on that timing but it was many years, and a different government (the party that is now in opposition) . In April of this year it changed its mind / 180. I do think it’s going to backfire on the opposition and their leader Dutton, but the damage it’s caused? Where to begin?

Not really because they won, so I expect an end to their tiny drum.

I can't see the article to which you refer, but I shall read more about the word "ghetto". I didn't realise it was considered pejorative. Strange the BBC use it and then criticise use of it. Maybe the critical article came long after this report and things had changed, I don't know.

Whatever word is used, the area under discussion certainly isn't a place where anyone should have to live and I can imagine the future looks bleak for any child starting their lives there.

Just reading the post but this is worth highlighting

It’s a constitutional matter, a changing of the constitution. This demands a referendum.

Thank you so much for this post.

Apologies, I missed including the BBC link. Here it is: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35296993

Thanks for this detailed and informative post. Sounds like an absolute mess of a campaign, and a distressing outcome and aftermath.

I do think it’s going to backfire on the opposition and their leader Dutton

Is it impacting the PM?

Ours walked out when the referendum went the other way, I doubt the same will happen but any political damage?

Thank you. That was really interesting. I can see in the 6 years since the "ghetto" article things had moved on and it's a word that shouldn't really be used now. I'll remember that going forwards in my own speech. Thanks!

Most racist country I’ve been to. Was shocked a few times. Not nice.

Exactly ! The White Australia Policy was abandoned decades ago . But let’s just keep on going with that old chestnut … same with when I visited an outback town 60 years ago etc. Most Australians parents / grandparents were born outside of Australia . Most speak a second language but let’s just label them as racists . All of them

You say that you didn’t see Aboriginal people. They are only 3.5% of the population so not every other person on the street.

A growing number of people identify as Aboriginal. The number outpaces Aboriginal births. Do that means an awful lot of people are finding hidden ancestry and claiming it despite other claims that Aboriginals are discriminated against.

But what do Aboriginal people look like? You may not actually recognize them as Aboriginal if you pass them on the street. Brooke Boney is aboriginal. So is Lidia Thorpe. And Kerry White who ran for One Nation. They are all part of the 3.6%.

In terms of jobs, a number of jobs are reserved for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander candidates. This is mentioned in job ads. Positive discrimination is legal. Diversity statistics are considered particularly important in the media and academic circles.

I was very shocked. I really thought it would be a yes!

@ALittleTeawithmilk thank you so much for that excellent post, so informative.

I wasn't particularly surprised.
It seemed a very unclear what was actually being voted for, at least at first read through.
It also seemed to gather together several different ideas at once.
It didn't seem well drafted and clear rather somewhat vague and virtue signaling.

I'm no fan of Australia, but I do find it funny that a lot of British people here are blithely branding Australia racist / xenophobic.

Pot, kettle...

You're right that racism is everywhere, and Britain did colonise Australia. Having lived there though, and I have discussed this with so many people both just tourists and locals and relatives who moved there, and there isn't one person who wasn't shocked at how blatant and more common racism is. I had heard shop staff discussing aboriginal people and indigenous in neighbouring countries in racist terms, friends have had taxi drivers using racist slurs, I have met Australians who defend the stolen generation too. It's just a very common experience people have in Australia and the stats also provide evidence that being aboriginal results in many disadvantages in areas like health and living standards. At some point, if enough people are telling you, you need to accept this might just be true.

Thank you for that generous response. Appreciated!

Yes, Victoria has a problem with neo-nazis. They're the ones who turned up at Kellie-Jay Keen's event in Melbourne. I went to the Sydney one. No nazis there. We had Morris dancers, oddly.

All the posters who are saying that Australia is one of the most racist countries they’ve ever been to really can’t have travelled much. Japan, Russia, China, Egypt/ the Middle East, many Eastern European and SE Asian countries to name a few clearly have a bigger problem. Either that or you haven’t really gotten to know the countries you’ve spent time in.

Blimey