DEAR News Of The Area,

I WOULD reply to Dianne Hendry – (NOTA 8.9.23) because I am not a ‘hater’.

Your diatribe aimed at those who would vote No was deeply offensive.

It is because we have thought deeply about the issue, that we have concluded we must vote No.

The proposal is primarily racist – as it would confer special privileges on one group of Australians, based entirely on their ethnic heritage.

That flies in the face of our Constitution, which stipulates the equality of all Australians. It would divide us in a way we have not been since 1967.

Albo has been less than truthful about the Voice, about what the Voice can do and what it cannot do.

He won’t answer the most basic questions about how it would work, because he knows that if he did, we would not support the idea.

Albo said on election night last year that he would implement the “Uluru Statement from the Heart – in full”.

It means that, if passed by us, the Voice would be followed by Treaty (with reparations!) and Truth (changing historical facts!).

Yet Albo is still trying to pretend that the Voice will only be an advisory body – that’s dishonest!

Because he can’t tell us the truth, Albo is trying to get us to vote on the vibe, the emotions.

He says it’s the “decent” thing to do, he’s trying to put moral blackmail on us by implying that we are bad people, that we are somehow less caring, somehow less intelligent or even racist – if we don’t vote Yes.

Clearly Dianne, you have bought Albo’s vibe, but you have no place to call us haters just because we won’t buy the blackmail.

Despite all the rhetoric from the Yes camp, we have heard nothing to explain how the proposed Voice would achieve any outcomes that cannot be achieved under our existing structure of government.

What could a group of 24 selected, not elected, elites from the city do?

But Albo has been deaf to the issues that have been raised.

What is needed to eliminate “disadvantage” is listening – to the voices that are already there – the NIAA and the hundreds of other Councils and assistance organisations.

He should listen to people like Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, who knows the issues first hand.

She would audit and demand accountability for the generous $40B that is currently spent every year on aboriginal welfare and programs.

That would bring results!

The question of Aboriginal Recognition has been conflated with the question on the Voice.

So sadly we don’t get an opportunity to approve it, as most of us would.

Conversely the Voice would be a pox on our society.

It would make the business of government unworkable.

It would divide us and also entrench the “disadvantage” of the Aboriginal population in our Constitution forever.

Albo might have got his referendum up if he had limited the Voice to dealing with only the Parliament, and regarding legislation pertaining to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples only.

But the Referendum question presented to us is much wider than that.

Finally – Albo is asking us to give him the right to determine the powers of the Voice. Those powers should be spelled out in the Referendum question.

No blank cheques Albo!

You have shown us repeatedly that you cannot be trusted.

So we must vote No on Oct 14.

Regards,
Andrew,
Coffs Harbour.