DEAR News Of The Area,

AFTER many months of actively undermining the case for a Voice to Parliament, enshrined in the constitution, Opposition leader Peter Dutton has finally come clean, telling us that he and his Liberal colleagues will oppose the Voice to Parliament, and will actively campaign against the referendum proposal.

Let us be clear.

This is not an issue of principle for Dutton.

This is about attempting to derail a government proposal for purely political reasons.

His framing of the referendum as “Albanese’s Canberra Voice”, a phrase we can look forward to being repeated ad nauseum in the months ahead, is pure fabrication.

The proposal comes from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, drawn up by representatives of Aboriginal communities from across the nation.

Albanese’s responsibility, as our Prime Minister, was to listen, to consult and to act.

Sadly, the Leader of the Opposition sees his own political future in getting the referendum to fail.

As Noel Pearson, a leading Conservative Aboriginal leader commented: “He doesn’t seem to mind chucking Indigenous Australians under the bus so he can preserve his miserable political hide.”

Last week Ken Wyatt, the previous Coalition minister for Indigenous Affairs, resigned from the Liberal party in dismay at Dutton’s decision.

This week the shadow Attorney-General, Julian Leeser, resigned from Dutton’s front bench as a matter of principle.

In his resignation statement, he said: “I want to be able to say to my children that their father stood up for something he believed in.”

I applaud him, and I hope that others will do the same.

Rather than follow ‘Divisive Dutton’, we should instead respond to the heartfelt plea from the authors of the Uluru statement, when they say: “We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.”

Let us give the Voice a resounding YES in the upcoming referendum.

Regards,
Mike GRIFFIN,
Valla Beach.