History is calling

The reveal from a parliamentary leader that Indigenous leader Marcia Langton is calling all No voters “racist and stupid” is a clear indication of how divisive the Voice actually is.

(I don’t like the leader concerned but I read it the same way as him this time.)
It’s really a step too far.

Then I find our own Toodyay Herald is being, unheralded, used as a platform to promote the Yes vote – this is really the last straw.

Nobody with any compassion or sense of fair play would deny first nations people a say in what affects them or challenge the fact that their individual entitlement should be equal to any other Australian.

There should be no ‘gap’ – politicians already have all the power they need to ensure there isn’t.

However, this doesn’t require any knee-jerk amendment to the Australian Constitution – just listening and action by the various governments that have been in power for the past, say, 50 years.

As I see it, the Yes vote’s stance is that we should grant this government and all future governments an enormous increase in power by the appointment of people, not necessarily representing any particular First Nations group, but vulnerable, as they would be reliant on the government of the day for their continued access to the golden trough without explaining how that power would be used.

Just ‘trust us’.

I’m suspicious of anyone asking me to take things on trust, especially governments that have consistently failed to put the interests of the electorate before their own political ends.

I am disinclined to hand them more power until they learn not to abuse the power they already have.

It’s all far too much unicorns and rainbows for me.

Until I am given sufficient information to allow me to vote Yes, I’ll be voting No.
I urge anyone who is even slightly uneasy about the situation to vote No.

I urge anyone who, like me, has actually lived under Apartheid elsewhere and seen the divisive and dehumanising results of this disgusting, race-based system, to vote No.

I urge anyone who is uncomfortable about further division in Australia on racial lines, to vote No.

I urge anyone who is even vaguely uncomfortable at handing more unchecked power to government, present and future (ie: we get to vote them out only once every three years) to vote No.

And lastly (thank you Page 17, September edition), I urge anyone who is indifferent, incurious or has no strong opinion to vote No.

Because history is calling and voting No won’t take away anything from First Nations people, just, perhaps, force governments to listen and act (as they should have been doing for the last 50 years without changing the Constitution).

As a letter from Helen Shanks says in last month’s Herald, “Know what you are voting for” and “please make it an informed one”.