His intimation is that the Constitution is already a racist and divisive document and introducing recognition of Indigenous people and affording them a Voice will not make it any more divisive. Indeed, enshrining the Voice in the constitution may, in fact, introduce a much needed element of balance.

This makes sense when you consider race as a social construct. That is, race does not have an inherent physical or biological meaning and cannot logically be used to promote the superiority of one race over another.

What the debate about the Voice is clearly indicating is that no, matter how often it is denied, there is a very strong undercurrent of racism in the Australian community.

This is despite the fact that the Whitlam Labor government, whose predecessors supported the White Australia policy, renounced it in 1973 and replaced it with a policy of multiculturalism.

If the polls can be believed, it appears that this undercurrent of racism stands a very good chance of tipping the referendum in favour of a No vote on Saturday 14 October.

If that happens it is likely to be taken as a vindication of every racist and white supremacist and hand a free pass to them and their like to express their racism.

This outcome will hurtle Australia back in time and irreparably damage our international reputation as well as creating a feeling of great shame among Yes voters who naively believed we are a better nation than that.

There is no doubt that Australia will be irrevocably changed for the worst by a No vote. Many Australians will have to decide whether they can live with such a change.

More productively, they can support the many organisations that I feel sure will overtly pressure governments at all levels to frame laws and regulations and deliver campaigns to drive racism out of our national conversation or at least force it back into the vile and wicked space it inhabits in their brains.