AUSTRALIA WILL VOTE NO to a race-based referendum but reject racism.
Dr Colin Benjamin OAM FAICD FISDS MAASW
Director General Life. Be in it.
Linda Burney, Minister for Indigenous Australia is right to reject a rush to a referendum that will be defeated if the current push for a minority race-based amendment is pushed by the Government without support from the Opposition and the Murdoch media.
JWS in August 2022 has asked a thousand Australians (with a margin of error of +/- 3.1% and sample quotas on age, gender and location to avoid bias) their level of support for alteration to the Constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
It would be defeated if held today in every Australian State. Only 39% of Queenslanders support the referendum (the low point) and 44% in Victoria ( the high point). More than half the population aged 18-34 years would vote yes compared with only 34% of people aged over 55 years. One person out of every three Australians says that they need more information or are undecided on supporting a Constitution change to establish an ATSI Voice.
The Australian's Janet Albrechtson (9/9/22) proclaims that the amendment is dead. She writes "Few attempted power grabs in Australian history have been more ambitious or more brazen."
Former WA Treasurer, Ben Wyatt writes in the same paper, "Put simply, corporate Australia understands that resolving the longstanding issues around the demand Aboriginal Australians have for recognition(voice), for acceptance (truth) and for a settlement of the historical horror of terra nullius (treaty) resolves one of our nation's greatest risks."
It is an unfortunate reality that without the support of Opposition Leader Dutton it is very likely that Albrechtson is closer to the mark. Australian voices in this division provide insight for this conclusion.
The fundamental reality is that those who are indicating strong opposition to Albanese's amendment are deeply committed in their opposition to racism whilst strongly supportive of recognition of our indigenous heritage.
In 1967 when the last indigenous recognition was supported 92% of Australians supported the Constitutional change. A million Australians have been asked their views on the recognition of Aboriginal Culture as an essential component of Australian Society since 2001 by Roy Morgan Research when 83% of respondents said YES. Today that figure still records support by three-quarters of the nation's electors.
Let's give them a voice and recognise that they are calling for an affirmative consciousness of the thousands of years that Australia has been open to peoples from all the countries in our land and all the countries in our world.
Have a close look at what these Australians are saying:
“Modifying the constitution will not change anything. Real action will, which is sadly lacking.”
“We are one country and no group should have a special voice. All people regardless of race, religion or gender should be treated the same, have the same rights and responsibilities.”
“There are already representatives of these people in Parliament. Members should be elected on what they stand for, not what colour they are. If this is voted for, representatives of UK, Italian, Greek, NZ and other nationalities should also have a say. Very, very divisive move.”
“I don't think one section of our population should have more rights than any other. We are all Australians regardless of if our ancestors were here or we migrated here.”
“This doesn't give any further clarity to the actual impact it will have on ATSI and non-ATSI people. There doesn't appear to be any objective benefit to ATSI people. If this is just wordplay and rhetoric, legislation should be sufficient, not a referendum.
“Modifying the constitution will not change anything. Real action will, which is sadly lacking.”
“You are creating a wider divide and segregating the Australian population of white/Indigenous. If you are Australian, you are Australian.”
Now, let's hear from those supporting the change:
“It is essential for the harmony of our society. We need to recognise the original inhabitants of this country.”
“Their voice is important and vital as they can only speak about these matters. If you are not Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, you cannot understand what they have been through. The rest of us are Australian-born or immigrants from another country.”
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“For so long their needs have been ignored, I think largely because there's not a collective understanding about the Indigenous experience by the demographic who populate government (i.e. white and male).”
“As the founders and traditional owners of this country that is so sacred to them, I believe they should have a large say in Australian Politics ... They have been oppressed and treaty unfairly since the day British Convicts landed, they deserve the chance to finally speak up and have their voices heard.”
CLEARLY THERE IS STRONG, NATIONWIDE SUPPORT FOR RECOGNITION BUT SIGNIFICANT CONCERN ABOUT WHAT IS ACTUALLY BEING PROPOSED, WHAT DIFFERENCE IT WOULD MAKE TO CENTURIES OF NEGLECT AND A DEMAND TO SEE 'Closing the Gap' AS THE CRITICAL PRIORITY FOR NATIONAL ACTION.
"I support better outcomes for first nations people, whichever of those will allow for more respectful treatment and a reduction in racism in Australia".
“I would like to know how this would work in practice. I understand that might be difficult but a few examples or anecdotes. I generally have a distrust for politicians and would like to know this could not be unethically manipulated.”
“So far the proposals are expressed in academic, idealistic, political and public service jargon. I want more realistic and workable expressions of intent and practicality, ”
WHAT ALTERNATIVES COULD BE CONSIDERED?
Nyttngal Warren Munding, Managing Director of Nytungga Black Group says " The campaign for the Voice is coming from Australia's elites: woke corporates, the liberal political classes and Indigenous academia. And they will campaign for it whether the majority of Indigenous people like it or not."
Instead of following YOUR ABC unity ticket with Pauline Hanson's "sing with one voice" under one flag
Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney needs to expand the national consultations on the wording of any proposed change beyond 22 Indigenous leaders to ask Australia if they would support an alternative wording along the lines of
'Australians are all proud of our many thousands of years of continuous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Cultures as an essential component of Australian Society, ensuring a welcome to people from all the countries of the world and their contribution to our national heritage.'
Emeritus Professor of Sociology at University of Technology Sydney
2 年Your analysis is correct but I think you miss one critical dimension - the self- perception of racism. According to the 1998 study by the government, suppressed for many years and only released under my FOI in 2013, people with most racist attitudes believed racism was low, they were not racist, and little needed to be done. People who thought racism was more widespread and thought they were racist tended to have the lowest level of racist attitudes. The majority were in the first category. QED re the Voice. In 1967 the referendum invited Aborigines to join the club and assimilate. In 2023 the Voice asks to rewrite the rules And build a new powerful lever for First Nations assertion of difference and restitution. This would threaten and is intended to, White hegemony. The majority are comfortable with the dominant ethnocratic hierarchy. A minority who find themselves down the chain are not happy and want their position to rise. Indigenous people at the base of the chain want an alternative space, which has a deep prehistory and a recognition of a polity with ongoing sovereignty. White power in all its forms wants to cling to it.