A Yes Vote – you know it makes sense
27 September 2023
ALEX MITCHELL
| Come the Revolution
TWEED HEADS - On Saturday, 27 May, 1967, Australians voted by an overwhelming majority to alter the Constitution to give the Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islanders the right to be counted in all future censuses by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The vote was a huge victory for the ‘YES’ camp: it won 90.77% of votes cast in all six States.
The 1967 vote was conducted amid an atmosphere of furious bipartisanship. All the main parties in Federal Parliament supported the proposal, so did the mainstream media and the enlightened (white) settler community.
Prior to the 1967 referendum, Aborigines were counted in censuses as ‘half-castes’ and ‘full-bloods’ according to the insistence of the 1901 Attorney-General and future Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin.
Now, in the 21st century, Australia’s First Nations people are asking for a voice to Federal Parliament so that their views can be recorded in an atmosphere free from name-calling and intolerance.
This time around, in October 2023, the nay-sayers are shouting their heads off and receiving massive press coverage.
Warren Mundine, Senator Jacinta Price and the National Party’s John Anderson are the leading spokespeople for those who want to deny history, and undermine the good hearts of Australian people.
However, the message from First Nations Peoples has been undeniable.
They are saying – “In the 1967 Referendum we were given a vote, but in the referendum of October 2023 in the 21st century we need a voice to Federal Parliament to hear what concerns us in a tolerant and respectful way.”
You know it makes sense, and that is why we should all vote ‘YES’ on Saturday 14 October.
Onwards with "inclusion and knowledge-sharing".
https://www.pngattitude.com/2023/10/on-a-day-of-shame-we-must-stand-by-yet.html
“...at the end of the day, we’ve still got a community to run and look after.”
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/raising-their-voices-what-the-no-vote-means-for-an-indigenous-community-20231015-p5eccn.html
Posted by: Lindsay F Bond | 16 October 2023 at 05:06 PM
I am voting YES simply because it is a recognition of historic fact and a personal felt duty.
My life has been greatly enriched by the friendships and the hospitality of Indigenous Australians.
In an imperfect world we have to be forgiving of past errors and The Voice offers the hope of meaningful reconciliation.
It is now our moral obligation to give constitutional recognition and to provide a heightened and dedicated line of communication to government for specific Indigenous felt needs and interests.
There is no hiding the fact that we non Aboriginal Australians are here because others stole this land before us.
After a shocking early history of the relationship, it is now time for more healing and a stronger bond in the brotherhood of man.
That's why I support the YES vote.
Posted by: John Gordon-Kirkby | 09 October 2023 at 03:31 PM
You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth
Steinman: On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?
McClain: Will he offer me his mouth?
Steinman: Yes.
McClain: Will he offer me his teeth?
Steinman: Yes.
McClain: Will he offer me his jaws?
Steinman: Yes.
McClain: Will he offer me his hunger?
Steinman: Yes.
McClain: Again, will he offer me his hunger?
Steinman: Yes!
McClain: And will he starve without me?
Steinman: Yes!
McClain: And does he love me?
Steinman: Yes.
McClain: Yes.
Steinman: On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?
McClain: Yes.
Steinman: I bet you say that to all the boys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wO8toxinoc
Posted by: Bernard Corden | 28 September 2023 at 09:20 AM
Think celebration, and Australian larrikinism, and what went well for Hawke. Apart from multiculturalism as a platform, there was also inclusionism.
Recall the apparel of another 'coating', as worn by Bob Hawke.
But know "...far from being intended to celebrate an Australian victory on the world stage, the jacket was designed by a 23-year-old architecture student to poke fun at what he saw as excessive displays of nationalism, as well as relieve the stress."
What a turnaround.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-27/australia-jacket-america-cup-origins-bob-hawke-paul-burnham/102903916
Think celebration....puttin on the Ritz. "The original version of Berlin's song included references to the then-popular fad of flashily dressed but poor black Harlemites parading up and down Lenox Avenue..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puttin%27_On_the_Ritz
"According to Alec Wilder, in his study of American popular song, for him, the rhythmic pattern in 'Puttin' On the Ritz' is "the most complex and provocative I have ever come upon."
Think creative culture. That which was cultured creatively to ensure longevity of knowledge and more certainty of future prospects, did include complexity and intricacy and (I guess) continues as expressions of hope in communities across Australia.
Australians can put mind to awareness of culture. Think survival as well as think thriving, and what emerges is embracing cohesion.
A path of kindness, conversation and cohesion is broadly what enables humanity to thrive.
Posted by: Lindsay F Bond | 27 September 2023 at 05:15 PM
Bruce Wolpe is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the United States Centre in the University of Sydney. His book, 'Trump's Australia: How Trumpism changed Australia and the shocking consequences of us of a second term', is a real eye opener.
In an article on 'The Conversation', website Wolpe discusses how The Voice will act to mitigate Trump's return:
"If most Australians vote “no” the country will be reeling. The victorious opponents of the Voice, with their echoes of Trumpism, will be poised to keep advancing their agenda.
"The default position of the political culture on race, reconciliation and equity will have gone backwards, making it harder to redress historical issues of racial disparities.
"The world is watching. As George Megalogenis recently concluded, “A ‘no’ vote would revive both the colonial ghost of dispossession and the federation ghost of the White Australia policy.”
"That would be a victory for Trumpism in Australia, even before Trump’s fate is decided next year by voters in America."
Wednesday's address at the National Press Club today is also worth watching. Noel Pearson's message is clear, concise and totally non-threatening, as opposed to what Mundine and Price are saying.
Posted by: Philip Fitzpatrick | 27 September 2023 at 01:52 PM