DEAR News Of The Area,

UNFORTUNATELY the Yes or No debate over the upcoming referendum on introducing the Voice into the constitution has been politicised to a degree.

As someone who wishes all fairness for all the peoples of Australia I am immediately disposed to vote Yes.

However there are certain issues that are unsettling.

The First Nation people of Australia are not universally behind the yes vote and in fact some are actively campaigning for the No vote.

Not always so much as a simple democratic right to their opinion on the Voice itself but it seems because the Voice referendum does not go far enough.

I might be wrong there but I suspect it is the Voice or nothing.

There is also the sense of entitlement – this is disturbing, as I see the Voice as a means to express a considered opinion directly to Government and not something of itself that will suddenly right all wrongs and bring the living standards of remote settlements up to big-city suburbia.

The same suburbia that a very high number of other young Australians find they cannot afford to own part of, any more than they might be able to afford rents.

Nor will it right all wrongs without commitment by First Nations people as well.

What will happen if a Voice representation to Parliament is rejected for quite good reasons? Will this result in a guerrilla campaign through sympathetic media by noisy activists?

It seems that activists already get a fair hearing through the media already.

The only way that the Voice to Parliament could work without potential aggravation would be by prior consultation between parties to ensure that over-ambitions demands could be modified to something actually doable before they are presented.

Would the more extreme activists accept this sensible working relationship?

The 60,000 year cultural heritage is regularly trotted out and should be admired and respected for what it offers the nation.

However there is not a person living in this country who is not also part of a similar 60,000 year cultural heritage from somewhere – even if it is somewhere else.

Their cultural heritage also helps make Australia a vibrant multicultural country.

We cannot dwell on the past and look for relief of past wrongs – this is very “no worthy”.

This is a country of migrants and there is nothing more eye-watering and sincere than an Aboriginal Welcome to Country celebration.

Let’s look to the future and how every Australian – old and new – will work together to make this country an even more fair place to live.

Constitutional recognition for the First Australians is easy to be in favour of – not so sure if the Voice could be ever used to harangue the nation for impossibilities.

Regards,
Tom CALDWELL,
Sapphire Beach.