Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney names four priorities for the proposed Voice to Parliament in a speech to the National Press Club, after growing pressure to detail how it would benefit First Nations people.
The way the whole proposition has been framed (rightly or wrongly) is it’s a pet-project for Albo, and comes across again as white folks telling Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples "this’ll be good for you, and it’ll work this time ;) "
At the moment I don’t see how the voice proposal is any different to the plethora of government agencies and outreach groups that have ultimately failed to make a difference over the years. If the referendum was actually two questions - constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people, and a second one on the voice, there would probably be less resistance; I would hazard a guess that most people in the ‘No’ camp (except the actual racists) don’t have issues with constitutional recognition per se, but with the lack of detail around the Voice itself.
The way the whole proposition has been framed (rightly or wrongly) is it’s a pet-project for Albo, and comes across again as white folks telling Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples "this’ll be good for you, and it’ll work this time ;) "
I agree that Labor has been virtue signalling pretty hard and is basically playing the familiar white saviour role yet again, but don’t forget that the Voice was something put to them by Indigenous leaders themselves.
I would hazard a guess that most people in the ‘No’ camp (except the actual racists) don’t have issues with constitutional recognition per se, but with the lack of detail around the Voice itself.
At least in terms of the Blak Sovereignty Movement, they take issue with the constitutional recognition bit but their main concern, and the one that is leading them to vote No, is that the Voice ultimately has no power and is still completely at the whim of the government of the day. They want Treaty and something akin to the model used in New Zealand, where Indigenous representatives actually have real power within the established political system.
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.
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The way the whole proposition has been framed (rightly or wrongly) is it’s a pet-project for Albo, and comes across again as white folks telling Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples "this’ll be good for you, and it’ll work this time ;) "
At the moment I don’t see how the voice proposal is any different to the plethora of government agencies and outreach groups that have ultimately failed to make a difference over the years. If the referendum was actually two questions - constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people, and a second one on the voice, there would probably be less resistance; I would hazard a guess that most people in the ‘No’ camp (except the actual racists) don’t have issues with constitutional recognition per se, but with the lack of detail around the Voice itself.
I agree that Labor has been virtue signalling pretty hard and is basically playing the familiar white saviour role yet again, but don’t forget that the Voice was something put to them by Indigenous leaders themselves.
At least in terms of the Blak Sovereignty Movement, they take issue with the constitutional recognition bit but their main concern, and the one that is leading them to vote No, is that the Voice ultimately has no power and is still completely at the whim of the government of the day. They want Treaty and something akin to the model used in New Zealand, where Indigenous representatives actually have real power within the established political system.
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:
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.