DEAR News Of The Area,

THANK YOU Alan Stanley for your measured and informative letter (NOTA May 19).

I have read and listened to voices for and against the referendum, one to gain as much information as possible and the other to try to work out why the Sam Hill anyone would vote against such an overdue proposal.

One thing is certain, the clear waters of a timely way forward for Indigenous people have been muddied by a flood of misinformation.

Jacinta Price and Warren Mundine clearly demonstrate that the changes they are calling for are the very changes that the architects of the Voice to Parliament hope to achieve, and risk an unravelling of the process.

In considering my vote, as a non-Indigenous person, I prefer to listen to the voices of the elder states persons who have seen it all.

Leaders like Marcia Langton, Pat Dodson and Noel Pearson, to mention just a few, have been in consultation with governments of both persuasions since the release of the Uluru statement in 2017 which invites all Australians to walk together.

The referendum will determine the Australian people’s acceptance or rejection of this gracious invitation.

We should not go down as the generation which denied First Australians a say in the governance of their own affairs.

Regards,
Margaret ENGLAND,
Toormina.