The Voice has always been touted as necessary to eliminate racial inequality affecting the Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal people.
“Racial inequality ” became a popular cliche for the activists.
Now these activists, and especially the Government, mention “racial inequality” far less frequently and not at all in the Government’s Yes case in the referendum booklet.
Perhaps that is because to do so would highlight the hypocrisy of a Voice for one race only.
In the referendum booklet the very first sentence of the Yes case says “Vote YES for a better future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and all Australians.”
How will that benefit all Australians if the Voice is for one race only?
The Yes case states ” Voting YES is about: …..Making practical progress in indigenous health, education, employment and housing…….”.
If the Government already knows what (is needed), why didn’t they start that practical progress 15 months ago when they got into Government?
Incidentally, all Australians want those same things for ALL Australians.
The No case has been criticised by some people for being negative.
That is how debates work.
The Yes case present all the positive arguments and the No case present all the negative arguments.
To put this in context I quote Linda Telisman (CCN 404), who explains in response to a similar comment: “The reason the No Pamphlet is filled with negativity is because everything about the Voice has a negative consequence for our nation”.
I can only assume the Yes case had trouble filling the space allocated for their case.
However, rather than leaving blank spaces they inserted comments from retired sports people.
Those comments essentially said nothing more pithy than they supported the Voice.
The Yes case also states” “Voting YES is about: Listening to advice from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about matters that affect their lives, so Governments make better decisions”.
Albanese has already made some (better? ) decisions on at least three occasions.
Senator Jacinta Price took an Aboriginal teenage girl to Parliament House to get somebody to listen to the horror story of life in her NT community; nobody listened.
A delegation of Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal people from all over Australia went to Parliament House to ask Albanese to listen to them.
Albanese and his MPs disappeared somewhere in Parliament House to avoid listening to them.
After relentless pressure Albanese was forced to go to Alice Springs due to extreme social unrest in that town.
He spent a few hours there before flying back to watch the tennis for three days.
During his visit he met with, spoke to and listened to not one Torres Strait Islander or Aboriginal person other than the appropriate officials and elitist activists in meetings behind closed doors.
Email, Aug 29
John King, San Remo
Why would the Yes booklet be talking about “racial inequality”? Unlike the No “case” — which wanders all over the place with deliberate lies and fantasies, the Yes case speaks the facts on what the Referendum is about —- and it’s not racial inequality. I’m sure you are well aware that The Voice is not meant to be for all Australians, it is for the most disadvantaged group in the country — which was never ceded by them in any case. The group which has 10 years less anticipated life, the highest mental problems highest suicide rate and a multitude of other problems of other types. It seems to me decent people would want some justice for the people who looked after the place for 65 000 years.