Why I’ll be voting No

I am quite dismayed about the arguments put forward for both sides of the referendum campaign, full of misinformation on both sides.

I am also dismayed that there is only one question on the ballot instead of two.

There are two issues: recognising the Aboriginal peoples as the original inhabitants, and setting up a consultative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders – which are not directly related and hence should be separate questions.

The Constitution is a document about the governing of Australia.

I have always viewed that anything in the Constitution about the past is inappropriate as the Constitution is about laying down the rules for the future.

With that said, it is stating the obvious – and without dispute – that the Aboriginal peoples were here first, by many thousands of years.

Australia has a history of mistreatment to Aborigines and non-white migrants.

It also has a history of mistreatment and intolerance to other segments of society as well, particularly to children, women and the non-religious.

If we – as a nation – are to move away from bigotry, surely the guiding principle in the Constitution is that everyone is equal, regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, religious belief/atheist, new migrant/locally born, or other point of difference.

I have empathy for Aboriginal peoples with their quest to be consulted on government legislation.

You would have thought it obligatory for the government to consult representatives of groups adversely impacted by proposed legislation.

We know that the governments don’t consult adversely impacted parties – you only have to look back to the Morrison government and its wish to impose inequality with its religious discrimination bill, discriminating against roughly one third of Australian society.

And the Liberal Party wonders why it has entered the wilderness years.

Australia is hardly perfect and Australian history is full of injustices.

If we are going to move forward as a nation, then we have to move forward together, in that in the eyes of the Constitution everyone is equal, and no-one is to be more equal than anyone else.

For this reason, I will be voting No.

Email, Sep 25
Gary Russell, Kariong