And my go-to is always Noel Pearson’s Boyer Lecture too.
This quote was what got my dad on board when he watched the lecture
“We are a much unloved people. We are perhaps the ethnic group Australians feel least connected to. We are not popular and we are not personally known to many Australians. Few have met us and a small minority count us as friends.”
I’ve taken to wearing my tshirt (that makarrata one you gave me) to the local wine bar each weekend and having in-depth convos with anyone willing to listen 🍷
Whatever the outcome on 15th October, this whole campaign has highlighted just how much we need Zali Steggall’s (or something like it) Stop The Lies bill and the Murdoch royal commission bill.
Watching from afar, it's ghastly. Let's win this!!! Let's take down the NO camp. I feel very determined to make the magic happen!!! Just hoping EVERYONE here can spread the word to at least 5 people in their orbit.
It’s exhausting (I cannot even imagine how the Indigenous communities and campaign frontliners are dealing), but every time I have a convo with someone and you see a spark of compassion in them, it truely is nourishing! And hope-full!
World headlines - Australia votes to suppress rights of indigenous people. Puts us in good company with China (uyghur), Burma (rohingya)and other pariahs. No other democracy on earth would even contemplate such stupidity
The most effective NO counter I’ve found is the argument run by Geoffrey Robertson, Bob Carr and others on how Australia’s reputation and global moral authority will be trashed if we vote No. We will have no authority to speak on what is happening in any other country if we are behaving like South Africa did 40 years ago. I’ve turned a few minds with this.
Thanks so much for this Sarah. As it happens my mechanic today asked me about it (we talk politics sometimes while he's working on my car) because he keeps changing his mind when he hears certain things, like indigenous people are against it etc. He said he started to read the booklet (from the AEC) but it was too long so he gave up. I said I'd summarize both arguments for him to be fair. He had clearly picked up more of the no arguments than the yes points sadly. I said at the end that I was voting yes and why. This is a really helpful guide you've provided which I can use going forward. PS I've already addressed this with my father!
If the people who vote NO because they don't know should be encouraged to Abstain unless they have a last minute YES epiphany. The status quo is already NO, these people need to step back and leave it to those who cares #Voice
I’m sad and disappointed to hear from people close around me how they’ve been influenced so heavily by the pervasive NO camp campaign. The amount of them that believe “they’re coming for the land I bought” is overwhelming to me and confirms just how many lies are being spread to get people to vote NO.
I attended a beautiful workshop at NIDA last week that the wonderful Rhoda Roberts delivered. It was all about First Nations people history and their experience in Australia when white settlers arrived. Heartbreaking how it was delivered and the story was told. If only that could be seen by all Australians!
It’s an absolute no brainer to me to note YES and I’m doing my darnest to reverse influence the people around me to do the same.
Thank you for this! I’m going to look into some of the things you’ve suggested. Have been v engaged and reading lots, but need to bust out into the real world.
I went to the Melbourne Yes March on Sunday which was amazing - need to keep that momentum in my body.
A highlight was watching a young teenage boy, captured by Peter Garret and the huge crowd singing with him
“We carry in our hearts the true country
And that cannot be stolen
We follow in the steps of our ancestry
And that cannot be broken”
Also important to clarify that the refrerendum ballot paper will require people to write ‘YES’ (or no) in answer to the question.
Here’s the official explanation from the AEC which also goes into the interpretation of ticks and crosses. The main message is to educate people to write yes or no.
And just today in the Federal court, another distraction:
“United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet and founder Clive Palmer have lost a court bid to count crosses on Voice referendum ballot papers as a "No" vote.”
Imagine working the majority of your adult life to improve the lives of your family, community, the people you love; doing it every-day-for-years, getting so close to substantial change and then witnessing the level of resistance rise even further.
Thank you Sarah. I copied and pasted a bit of your last post into my (highly influential!) instagram page already. (I credited you) And I’m going to do the same with this. As a neurodivergent introvert I struggle to get out and support my causes. This one really hurts my heart, I HAVE to do more. So thank you so very much for these tips. FUCK YES ✌🏽🫶🏽
I’ve been thinking about doing it and not doing it, for too long! The polls and the awful ‘no’ messages have me very worried and I don’t want to feel that I should have/could have done more.
You’re right Sarah, there are many ways to contribute. Doesn’t have to be through official channels. Conversations are powerful.
There’s loads of resources on the yes23 site... things you can print at home, posters, stickers. I wonder if it helps to see ‘yes’ images around the community.
I have taken the plunge and signed up as a volunteer with my local Yes23 group via their website. I’m nervous, but I try to quiet that down by focusing on the ‘why’, the change that’s desperately needed. Indigenous Australians have asked us to come with them and we can go now, today.
When you sign up to volunteer there’s a spot on the form to select the things you could do.... not all of them require talking to strangers 😬 I’m telling myself that there’ll be lovely kind Yes people to volunteer with and I’m sure it will be worth it.
Oh GOOD ON YOU Nicole!! This is great. I know how challenging it must be and I’m so pleased you’re doing it. Thank you so much for sharing this, I’m going to see what I can do on that website now too!! Maybe you will be one of the lovely Yes people that I volunteer with! Best wishes to you. You can do it!! 🖤💛❤️
I think it helps to take the time to do your own research to get an informed opinion. I'm lucky to have a friend who is a Baptist Pastor, who has spent a lot of time in Aboriginal communities. As I understand it, he believes that culturally it can take time to build trust to have the type of discussions that are meaningful to some of the affected communities. Having public servants, no matter how well meaning come into a community and expect to extract information without taking time to show you can listen etc can be pointless.
A mechanism so that this can be shortcut and the real needs of a community are relayed through people who understand and have earnt the respect of a community will best enable the needs of a community to be relayed to the decision makers in parliament. Maybe a voice to parliament will enable that? I hope so, I'm tired of the lower life expectancy and quality of life. All the best with making a decision that helps improve quality of life
Hey Chris, I don't buy this... the message is getting through, slowly. Organisers feel the message will arrive in time for the vote. Also bear in mind - media and Dutton have picked up on the handful who have not got the message until just recently.
Also, isn't this all just a challenge we need to rise to - helping organisers get the message out there, rather than saying - see, it's all going to fail!
thanks for adjusting your tone and clarifying your care here. I can see there is care going on. I feel the Voice is ALL about giving FN people at a local level a say...precisely for the very good reasons you raise. Indigenous people "in Canberra" or the cities have a better chance of being able to talk to leaders in communities who can talk to the folk on the ground. FN people KNOW how to do this dialogue. They already are. It's how the Uluru Statement was formed...now they're saying, let us bring this system, this system we do well (using Indigenous complexity knowledge), to the party. Let this be the mechanism for addressing things.
Hey Chris, I do see these interviews. Guardian has done what you describe. I've also seen on 730 report. Again, my point, very remote Indigenous people represent a very small % of the population, so there just aren't a lot to interview. You seem set on this idea of visiting remote communities. Do you feel a No vote will change this? Also I'm curious about the No camps obsession with pointing out that the architects of the Voice have degrees and live in the city. Why shouldn't they? I mean, they went to uni to develop skills to be able to do exactly this kind of thing - have influence? I can't imagine Australians being OK with folk coming out who don't have legal expertise suggesting changes to the constitution. The No camp can't have it both ways, here. We are all in a system. And this is how the system goes...
Yes, let's agree to disagree (or to not feel heard)
I flag I most definitely do not agree with trickle down economics. I write about this often. I figure you probably don't know a lot about my work and writing yet... or the fact that I have been on the frontline of a lot of what we're discussing here - I fostered Indigenous kids for 4 years.
‘Truly unbelievable that the ignorance gets repeated over and over and over again.’
Absolutely!
And this is what the dialogues around the country revealed - Indigenous people have been promised and denied repeatedly since the beginning of Gov led inquiries into constitutional recognition.
Sure, we hear from Pearson, Langton, Albanese, but the idea of a permanent Voice comes from and will be realised by the grass roots of communities.
Hope you're wrong Chris. Having said that mine is the cohort of over 50 white males who seem to thi k someone else's gain must by inference be their loss: I see that attitude in respect to tax, social services, not just the voice. If I'm unkind, self interest seems to drive some reaction. Sarah seems to think we are better than that, I hope she's right!
I will be going Oct 3, the first day it opens for voting, but am going w an indigenous friend who I don't think wants a big hoo-ha. Let me check back in with her...if she's keen I'll do a call out x
I heard Mandy Nolan, a Byron local comedian running as a Greens candidate at a Tweed heads march say ‘ I know you all are here today as Yes Supporters but I’d like to ask that you all leave here as Yes campaigners’.
Think you’re suggesting similar. A mammoth effort required by us all 🙏🏽💚
I'm a 51 year old man and I honestly cannot believe Australia is having a debate about correcting human rights and equality. With our own people.
The fact that a massive 42% of adults can say no to basically a question of recognition and love. That is so absolutely disheartening to then say I'm Australian. .
Something that also doesn't even affect that 42%.
If I was asked to vote if Australia should make tampons free to all women, I'd ask why am I even having a say on this?
I will be embarrassed to fly back into Australia if NO is what we have become.
A nation of NO voters.
This issue doesn't involve a single dollar or job and they've managed to divide us on misinformation.
Is it any wonder the environment isn't getting fixed any time soon.
Thanks so much for this post Sarah. We need high-profile people like you using your influence/far-teaching voice to “mobilise the masses!”
Like some others here, I’ve just been chipping away in my local Yes23 group - helping out where and when I can. It doesn’t often feel like enough, but I know every little bit counts.
Just on a kinda-related note...while I don’t for a second claim to know how it feels (in all its nuance and inter-generational layering etc) to be a First Nations person here in a Australia...I do feel somewhat licensed to share my immense empathy for any person who feels like their whole being and sense of worth has been placed into the hands of the Australian public to decide...
I personally found the 2017 same-sex marriage plebiscite (national postal vote) to be such a gruelling experience. To see so much misinformation and negative judgment being perpetrated in the mainstream media and public discourse re: who I might happen to love...somehow induced so much shame in me for simply being ‘different’ in a world of vast heteronormativity.
Re: the upcoming referendum...how can any member of the Australian public think THEY have any right to block the rights of a group of dispossessed and marginalised people who are simply asking to feel valued and included in our constitution? We should feel honoured (or maybe humbled is a better word here?) that the majority of First Nations people even want to take this step towards further unity and reconciliation. They don’t owe me/us/my colonising ancestors anything. But they know, as all people of the world should know - that we all have the same beating heart and inextricable connection to each other, all living creatures, and our shared land, sky and oceans.
We must say “yes” at this referendum, because the alternative is deeply shameful. I honestly don’t know how I will possibly explain to my 3 small children (3, 5 and 7yo) that our country failed to embrace and acknowledge the basic human rights of our First Nations people (yet again).
We said “yes” to marriage/love equality...now let’s say “yes” to giving aboriginal Australians back their voice. It’s the least we can do.
I love how you said to talk to your dad. I did just that and it didn’t go well, he was so set in the mindset of equality for all and felt that saying yes would give others a greater say. No matter how much I countered his arguments there was no changing his view.
I think the reason why people are moving towards no, is because more details (or lack thereof) are coming to light.
I know I support indigenous recognition, but I don't support the voice proposal in the constitution. It explicitly (and permanently) divides us along group lines, portrays indigenous people as all disadvantaged victims, and is so broad in potential power that it is open to being exploited.
But a referendum is ONLY a vote on principle. NEVER on details. The govt of the day - ie Liberals, Labor and the rest - create the details. Matthew - this is what we need to be educating people about ... we don't have to be policy experts to do this vote. It's just the principle of recognising FN people in our national document BY giving them a voice/advisory abilities.
As to dividing - what is it about the above that divides? What is the explicit bit? and what about the above opens things to exploitation - we have a democracy that will ensure the details represent Australians needs/wants.
I agree with recognition, i disagree with the premise of the voice. We all already have a voice, it's called a democracy. The key seems to be in listening.
In terms of divisiveness, my issue is that it identifies people based primarily on their group (indigenous in this case) rather than being human. We all may belong to different groups, but it's our common and fundamental humanity that unites us. There are disadvantaged HUMANS, perhaps the focus could be on those who are disadvantaged (indigenous and otherwise) rather than on race.
The detail part is also important, because at the moment it's so open that it can lead to things like reparations.
For example, if the voice recommended something like reparations, and the government didn't listen or abide by the advice, what would be the point of having a voice if the government doesn't listen to it? Therefore there is a potentially coercive element to the voice.
I hear what you’re saying about division and it’s a prominent concern of those on the no side - but that’s not the intention of the proposal.
Many Indigenous Australians don’t experience the equality that democracy is meant to provide. They are the only race that experience the effects of colonisation and that is the leading cause of the disadvantage.
The Voice won’t have power to make laws on reparations or treaty or anything else. Even if they raised things that don’t sit well with the government of the day, at least they are assured of being heard and responded to by the Parliament and Executive.
Indigenous people are asking for a guarantee that they’ll be involved in building the solutions. All the national dialogues (independently) came to the same conclusions; the Voice was no 1. The models put forward as examples so far present pathways for genuine collaboration with government... building trust and improved over time. The well intentioned but ad hoc, frequently reinvented approach we have now is inadequate and it’s THE thing they want changed. The thing most likely to close the gaps. The thing that will facilitate all Australians being able to know and share in what they bring to this country.
Its fundamentally divisive because it makes the distinction of us (the 3%) and them (the 97%). I find the advocates for no are bringing a more unifying vision, one that sees us all as equals and as human beings, not through the lense of race. Its simply a more compelling future vision and one that I subscribe to.
Part of having the Voice as a constant alongside our system of gov is to reveal to all Australians the discussions, advice, policy development and implementation that happens on Indigenous issues. It will be much easier to find out what advice the local or regional Voice representatives have presented to gov. And we’ll be able to measure that against Gov decisions and spending.
If there’s an issue that the Gov doesn’t agree on, or act on after the Voice advice has been offered it’s in the public domain. It could bring the complex issues more fully into our democracy, they’ll be up for parliamentary debate, there’s transparency, accountability.
I am so baffled as to how we got here.
But yes, we need to do more.
Also loved Cheek’s ‘why I’m voting yes’.
Great thread > https://www.instagram.com/p/CxOra3kBJ_d/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
And my go-to is always Noel Pearson’s Boyer Lecture too.
This quote was what got my dad on board when he watched the lecture
“We are a much unloved people. We are perhaps the ethnic group Australians feel least connected to. We are not popular and we are not personally known to many Australians. Few have met us and a small minority count us as friends.”
I’ve taken to wearing my tshirt (that makarrata one you gave me) to the local wine bar each weekend and having in-depth convos with anyone willing to listen 🍷
Whatever the outcome on 15th October, this whole campaign has highlighted just how much we need Zali Steggall’s (or something like it) Stop The Lies bill and the Murdoch royal commission bill.
It breaks my heart that an Indigenous person would have to make a speech that acknowledges, in any way, that they're not loved.
I completely agree. I think of that quote so often when reading all the comment sections of Voice content on social media at the moment.
The whole discourse is breaking my heart 💔
Watching from afar, it's ghastly. Let's win this!!! Let's take down the NO camp. I feel very determined to make the magic happen!!! Just hoping EVERYONE here can spread the word to at least 5 people in their orbit.
100% we HAVE TO swing this around!
It’s exhausting (I cannot even imagine how the Indigenous communities and campaign frontliners are dealing), but every time I have a convo with someone and you see a spark of compassion in them, it truely is nourishing! And hope-full!
YES! We want to be a Yes nation!
I think the Noel Pearson quote explains why so many people are listening to the plethora of tiktoks from Indigenous people that are voting No.
Other than the fact that algorithms run our life,
it’s our (as a Nation) lack of knowing and loving of Indigenous people and culture.
BUT I also believe we’re a hopeful Nation, not consumed by fear of the unknown.
World headlines - Australia votes to suppress rights of indigenous people. Puts us in good company with China (uyghur), Burma (rohingya)and other pariahs. No other democracy on earth would even contemplate such stupidity
The most effective NO counter I’ve found is the argument run by Geoffrey Robertson, Bob Carr and others on how Australia’s reputation and global moral authority will be trashed if we vote No. We will have no authority to speak on what is happening in any other country if we are behaving like South Africa did 40 years ago. I’ve turned a few minds with this.
Yes, that's a good point. And it's not like a successive govt can blame the previous one....because it was the Australian people who made the decision
Sadly I think the country we live in is becoming a worldwide joke.
The UN with the Climate Ambition Summit where we are a massive contributor to the decline.
Climate action not climate annihilation.
The yes vote will mean nothing if we don’t start to respond.
Thanks so much for this Sarah. As it happens my mechanic today asked me about it (we talk politics sometimes while he's working on my car) because he keeps changing his mind when he hears certain things, like indigenous people are against it etc. He said he started to read the booklet (from the AEC) but it was too long so he gave up. I said I'd summarize both arguments for him to be fair. He had clearly picked up more of the no arguments than the yes points sadly. I said at the end that I was voting yes and why. This is a really helpful guide you've provided which I can use going forward. PS I've already addressed this with my father!
One conversation at a time...and they are good conversations to have!
If the people who vote NO because they don't know should be encouraged to Abstain unless they have a last minute YES epiphany. The status quo is already NO, these people need to step back and leave it to those who cares #Voice
Indeed
This is tremendous, thanks Sarah.
I’m sad and disappointed to hear from people close around me how they’ve been influenced so heavily by the pervasive NO camp campaign. The amount of them that believe “they’re coming for the land I bought” is overwhelming to me and confirms just how many lies are being spread to get people to vote NO.
I attended a beautiful workshop at NIDA last week that the wonderful Rhoda Roberts delivered. It was all about First Nations people history and their experience in Australia when white settlers arrived. Heartbreaking how it was delivered and the story was told. If only that could be seen by all Australians!
It’s an absolute no brainer to me to note YES and I’m doing my darnest to reverse influence the people around me to do the same.
Perhaps chime in and respond to some of the No voters here in this thread? I'm about to
Hey Sarah,
Thank you for this! I’m going to look into some of the things you’ve suggested. Have been v engaged and reading lots, but need to bust out into the real world.
I went to the Melbourne Yes March on Sunday which was amazing - need to keep that momentum in my body.
A highlight was watching a young teenage boy, captured by Peter Garret and the huge crowd singing with him
“We carry in our hearts the true country
And that cannot be stolen
We follow in the steps of our ancestry
And that cannot be broken”
Also important to clarify that the refrerendum ballot paper will require people to write ‘YES’ (or no) in answer to the question.
No ticks or crosses.
Oh YES, the Yes not tick/cross thing. Has that been confirmed? I think I read some discussion around that...ie accepting Yes as well as ticks
Here’s the official explanation from the AEC which also goes into the interpretation of ticks and crosses. The main message is to educate people to write yes or no.
https://www.aec.gov.au/referendums/vote/completing-the-ballot-paper.html
And just today in the Federal court, another distraction:
“United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet and founder Clive Palmer have lost a court bid to count crosses on Voice referendum ballot papers as a "No" vote.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-20/voice-federal-court-fail-for-clive-palmer-ralph-babet/102880532
Imagine working the majority of your adult life to improve the lives of your family, community, the people you love; doing it every-day-for-years, getting so close to substantial change and then witnessing the level of resistance rise even further.
Thank you Sarah. I copied and pasted a bit of your last post into my (highly influential!) instagram page already. (I credited you) And I’m going to do the same with this. As a neurodivergent introvert I struggle to get out and support my causes. This one really hurts my heart, I HAVE to do more. So thank you so very much for these tips. FUCK YES ✌🏽🫶🏽
We all do our best in different ways!
I’ve been thinking about doing it and not doing it, for too long! The polls and the awful ‘no’ messages have me very worried and I don’t want to feel that I should have/could have done more.
You’re right Sarah, there are many ways to contribute. Doesn’t have to be through official channels. Conversations are powerful.
There’s loads of resources on the yes23 site... things you can print at home, posters, stickers. I wonder if it helps to see ‘yes’ images around the community.
I relate Cleo. Getting out is hard.
I have taken the plunge and signed up as a volunteer with my local Yes23 group via their website. I’m nervous, but I try to quiet that down by focusing on the ‘why’, the change that’s desperately needed. Indigenous Australians have asked us to come with them and we can go now, today.
When you sign up to volunteer there’s a spot on the form to select the things you could do.... not all of them require talking to strangers 😬 I’m telling myself that there’ll be lovely kind Yes people to volunteer with and I’m sure it will be worth it.
Yes, I should have mentioned the volunteering...I obvs can't do it from Paris, but I encourage everyone to do it if they can. Thanks for the pointer
Also- DEFINITELY WORTH IT ✊🏽
Oh GOOD ON YOU Nicole!! This is great. I know how challenging it must be and I’m so pleased you’re doing it. Thank you so much for sharing this, I’m going to see what I can do on that website now too!! Maybe you will be one of the lovely Yes people that I volunteer with! Best wishes to you. You can do it!! 🖤💛❤️
I think it helps to take the time to do your own research to get an informed opinion. I'm lucky to have a friend who is a Baptist Pastor, who has spent a lot of time in Aboriginal communities. As I understand it, he believes that culturally it can take time to build trust to have the type of discussions that are meaningful to some of the affected communities. Having public servants, no matter how well meaning come into a community and expect to extract information without taking time to show you can listen etc can be pointless.
A mechanism so that this can be shortcut and the real needs of a community are relayed through people who understand and have earnt the respect of a community will best enable the needs of a community to be relayed to the decision makers in parliament. Maybe a voice to parliament will enable that? I hope so, I'm tired of the lower life expectancy and quality of life. All the best with making a decision that helps improve quality of life
Indeed, this is the premise behind the voice.
Hey Chris, I don't buy this... the message is getting through, slowly. Organisers feel the message will arrive in time for the vote. Also bear in mind - media and Dutton have picked up on the handful who have not got the message until just recently.
Also, isn't this all just a challenge we need to rise to - helping organisers get the message out there, rather than saying - see, it's all going to fail!
thanks for adjusting your tone and clarifying your care here. I can see there is care going on. I feel the Voice is ALL about giving FN people at a local level a say...precisely for the very good reasons you raise. Indigenous people "in Canberra" or the cities have a better chance of being able to talk to leaders in communities who can talk to the folk on the ground. FN people KNOW how to do this dialogue. They already are. It's how the Uluru Statement was formed...now they're saying, let us bring this system, this system we do well (using Indigenous complexity knowledge), to the party. Let this be the mechanism for addressing things.
Hey Chris, I do see these interviews. Guardian has done what you describe. I've also seen on 730 report. Again, my point, very remote Indigenous people represent a very small % of the population, so there just aren't a lot to interview. You seem set on this idea of visiting remote communities. Do you feel a No vote will change this? Also I'm curious about the No camps obsession with pointing out that the architects of the Voice have degrees and live in the city. Why shouldn't they? I mean, they went to uni to develop skills to be able to do exactly this kind of thing - have influence? I can't imagine Australians being OK with folk coming out who don't have legal expertise suggesting changes to the constitution. The No camp can't have it both ways, here. We are all in a system. And this is how the system goes...
Yes, let's agree to disagree (or to not feel heard)
I flag I most definitely do not agree with trickle down economics. I write about this often. I figure you probably don't know a lot about my work and writing yet... or the fact that I have been on the frontline of a lot of what we're discussing here - I fostered Indigenous kids for 4 years.
‘Truly unbelievable that the ignorance gets repeated over and over and over again.’
Absolutely!
And this is what the dialogues around the country revealed - Indigenous people have been promised and denied repeatedly since the beginning of Gov led inquiries into constitutional recognition.
Sure, we hear from Pearson, Langton, Albanese, but the idea of a permanent Voice comes from and will be realised by the grass roots of communities.
This is a great article about the process.
https://www.ipaa.org.au/unpacking-the-uluru-statement-from-the-heart/
Hope you're wrong Chris. Having said that mine is the cohort of over 50 white males who seem to thi k someone else's gain must by inference be their loss: I see that attitude in respect to tax, social services, not just the voice. If I'm unkind, self interest seems to drive some reaction. Sarah seems to think we are better than that, I hope she's right!
Thanks for this Sarah, very helpful points to take into conversation.
The thought of waking up to a 'No' vote outcome fills me with dread and sadness. So I'm voting yes for all the reasons you have outlined + more
Ps. Any other Paris-based Aussies interested in a meet-up slash embassy visit to vote? Let me know!
I will be going Oct 3, the first day it opens for voting, but am going w an indigenous friend who I don't think wants a big hoo-ha. Let me check back in with her...if she's keen I'll do a call out x
I saw that some Australians in NY organised a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to coincide with the weekend marches here in Australia. 🥰
I heard Mandy Nolan, a Byron local comedian running as a Greens candidate at a Tweed heads march say ‘ I know you all are here today as Yes Supporters but I’d like to ask that you all leave here as Yes campaigners’.
Think you’re suggesting similar. A mammoth effort required by us all 🙏🏽💚
I am! x
We coined the phrase "Fair go" FFS
I'm a 51 year old man and I honestly cannot believe Australia is having a debate about correcting human rights and equality. With our own people.
The fact that a massive 42% of adults can say no to basically a question of recognition and love. That is so absolutely disheartening to then say I'm Australian. .
Something that also doesn't even affect that 42%.
If I was asked to vote if Australia should make tampons free to all women, I'd ask why am I even having a say on this?
I will be embarrassed to fly back into Australia if NO is what we have become.
A nation of NO voters.
This issue doesn't involve a single dollar or job and they've managed to divide us on misinformation.
Is it any wonder the environment isn't getting fixed any time soon.
Thanks so much for this post Sarah. We need high-profile people like you using your influence/far-teaching voice to “mobilise the masses!”
Like some others here, I’ve just been chipping away in my local Yes23 group - helping out where and when I can. It doesn’t often feel like enough, but I know every little bit counts.
Just on a kinda-related note...while I don’t for a second claim to know how it feels (in all its nuance and inter-generational layering etc) to be a First Nations person here in a Australia...I do feel somewhat licensed to share my immense empathy for any person who feels like their whole being and sense of worth has been placed into the hands of the Australian public to decide...
I personally found the 2017 same-sex marriage plebiscite (national postal vote) to be such a gruelling experience. To see so much misinformation and negative judgment being perpetrated in the mainstream media and public discourse re: who I might happen to love...somehow induced so much shame in me for simply being ‘different’ in a world of vast heteronormativity.
Re: the upcoming referendum...how can any member of the Australian public think THEY have any right to block the rights of a group of dispossessed and marginalised people who are simply asking to feel valued and included in our constitution? We should feel honoured (or maybe humbled is a better word here?) that the majority of First Nations people even want to take this step towards further unity and reconciliation. They don’t owe me/us/my colonising ancestors anything. But they know, as all people of the world should know - that we all have the same beating heart and inextricable connection to each other, all living creatures, and our shared land, sky and oceans.
We must say “yes” at this referendum, because the alternative is deeply shameful. I honestly don’t know how I will possibly explain to my 3 small children (3, 5 and 7yo) that our country failed to embrace and acknowledge the basic human rights of our First Nations people (yet again).
We said “yes” to marriage/love equality...now let’s say “yes” to giving aboriginal Australians back their voice. It’s the least we can do.
* Oh sorry - it’s late here!...that meant to say Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.. I know it’s important to get this right...
I love how you said to talk to your dad. I did just that and it didn’t go well, he was so set in the mindset of equality for all and felt that saying yes would give others a greater say. No matter how much I countered his arguments there was no changing his view.
Good on you for having that difficult conversation. I wonder if some time to sit with the after thoughts now, will keep the door open.
My dad is fully on board. Has a Yes sign in his front window and ordered extra stickers to hand out to friends.
I was thinking the same...he might reflect and shift in a few days/weeks.
This is so good Sarah thank you.
I think the reason why people are moving towards no, is because more details (or lack thereof) are coming to light.
I know I support indigenous recognition, but I don't support the voice proposal in the constitution. It explicitly (and permanently) divides us along group lines, portrays indigenous people as all disadvantaged victims, and is so broad in potential power that it is open to being exploited.
Honour our history? 100%.
Divide us along group lines? No way.
But a referendum is ONLY a vote on principle. NEVER on details. The govt of the day - ie Liberals, Labor and the rest - create the details. Matthew - this is what we need to be educating people about ... we don't have to be policy experts to do this vote. It's just the principle of recognising FN people in our national document BY giving them a voice/advisory abilities.
As to dividing - what is it about the above that divides? What is the explicit bit? and what about the above opens things to exploitation - we have a democracy that will ensure the details represent Australians needs/wants.
I agree with recognition, i disagree with the premise of the voice. We all already have a voice, it's called a democracy. The key seems to be in listening.
In terms of divisiveness, my issue is that it identifies people based primarily on their group (indigenous in this case) rather than being human. We all may belong to different groups, but it's our common and fundamental humanity that unites us. There are disadvantaged HUMANS, perhaps the focus could be on those who are disadvantaged (indigenous and otherwise) rather than on race.
The detail part is also important, because at the moment it's so open that it can lead to things like reparations.
For example, if the voice recommended something like reparations, and the government didn't listen or abide by the advice, what would be the point of having a voice if the government doesn't listen to it? Therefore there is a potentially coercive element to the voice.
They're my main issues with it.
Recognition: awesome.
Voice baser on race: not so awesome
I hear what you’re saying about division and it’s a prominent concern of those on the no side - but that’s not the intention of the proposal.
Many Indigenous Australians don’t experience the equality that democracy is meant to provide. They are the only race that experience the effects of colonisation and that is the leading cause of the disadvantage.
The Voice won’t have power to make laws on reparations or treaty or anything else. Even if they raised things that don’t sit well with the government of the day, at least they are assured of being heard and responded to by the Parliament and Executive.
Indigenous people are asking for a guarantee that they’ll be involved in building the solutions. All the national dialogues (independently) came to the same conclusions; the Voice was no 1. The models put forward as examples so far present pathways for genuine collaboration with government... building trust and improved over time. The well intentioned but ad hoc, frequently reinvented approach we have now is inadequate and it’s THE thing they want changed. The thing most likely to close the gaps. The thing that will facilitate all Australians being able to know and share in what they bring to this country.
Its fundamentally divisive because it makes the distinction of us (the 3%) and them (the 97%). I find the advocates for no are bringing a more unifying vision, one that sees us all as equals and as human beings, not through the lense of race. Its simply a more compelling future vision and one that I subscribe to.
Part of having the Voice as a constant alongside our system of gov is to reveal to all Australians the discussions, advice, policy development and implementation that happens on Indigenous issues. It will be much easier to find out what advice the local or regional Voice representatives have presented to gov. And we’ll be able to measure that against Gov decisions and spending.
If there’s an issue that the Gov doesn’t agree on, or act on after the Voice advice has been offered it’s in the public domain. It could bring the complex issues more fully into our democracy, they’ll be up for parliamentary debate, there’s transparency, accountability.
that's a great point, Nicole
you have free time i want to go travel comon!!