Disclaimer: the views detailed below are views held by me alone and are not to be considered as views of my employer.
Here is a link to more information on the question being asked and how it adds a new section to the Australian Constitution.
In thinking about how I would vote, and because there is no discernible impact one way or another on me, my family, and others that I hold dear, I turn to asking
“What sort of country & society do I want to live in?”.
Citizenship, in my view, is about contributing where you can to help others gain the full advantages of what Australia as a country offers.
We have a section of the population that is by any measure significantly disadvantaged and during my lifetime this disadvantage has been an intentional part of the way our Australian society was organized.
First Nations people were not realistically considered citizens of Australia until the 1967 Referendum was passed. Section 127 of the Australian constitution previously stated; –
- In reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives should not be counted.
As a result of the 1967 referendum Section 127 is now blank.
Whereas that referendum eliminated some of the racial discrimination in the founding document of Australia, it did not automatically remove any discrimination present from the laws of Australia.
Terra Nullius, that this land was unoccupied when claimed by the British Empire, was not overturned till the “Mabo” High Court of Australia decision in 1992 and the subsequent Native Title Act of 1993 was passed.
I see this referendum as the next step in a long project to eliminate from the Australian Constitution, and our society, what can be seen as the racist threads in our founding document, our laws, and our institutions.
There are some folks who would vote “No” because they do not see a need for ANY change.
The status quo is not working. Read the latest Closing the Gap report (2020). It does not look like it is getting better at any reasonable rate. If you want things to change you must change things.
This referendum is an opportunity to both make that change but do so in a way that gives legislatures across Australia a citizen directed mandate to do far better for First Nations people than we have up to now.
Some folks say this is not the form of recognition they want.
There is never, ever going to be 100% agreement on anything, across any number of people. The Uluru Statement from the Heart is just 440 words and it says in part: –
“… We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution. …”
And given the years long consultation and discussion that culminated in that statement, this is the form of recognition that the substantive majority of First Nations people support.
Some will say that we cannot be sure of how the new section of the Australian Constitution will be interpreted. There will be “unintended consequences”.
This is my favorite of all the FUD statements, it suggests that the Australian Parliament, Executive Government, the Commonwealth Public Service, the Judiciary and who knows else are individually and collectively incompetent.
I am voting “Yes”, to progress our Australian society, to acknowledge in our founding document the continuous culture of this place, and to provide a means by which we as a nation can alleviate the issues consequent from the inter-generational disadvantage & dispossession of First Nations people.
The vote on October 14, 2023, is an opportunity to move closer to the ideal that every citizen, no matter where they come from or where they live in this vast country, has fair access to the benefits and the rights that come from being an Australian citizen.
Choose a fairer Australia, Write “Yes”.