Constitutional Racism: The Voice Referendum

While the following is addressed to Australians, the general scenario applies to many other nations in the current political climate. Let’s unite as one and end the division. MH

from Richard Holme:

To Whom It May  Concern,

I am greatly concerned about our immediate political direction. We are headed for a referendum to enshrine apartheid in the Australian Constitution, where one race has a privilege not afforded the majority of people have in the federal parliament.

It is bad enough that all people are not treated equally by Government policy or actions, but to expect people to divide the residents of Australia by race in our constitution is unbelievable and beyond the pale.

The more we are divided into different groups along racial, ethnic, religious or political lines, the less we are a nation of one people working toward a common future. It also pits the needs of one minority group against the needs of another minority, while ignoring the needs of the majority and turning us into a more secular society.

This Labor Government can do what it is proposing without having it enshrined in the constitution but is more interested in grandstanding and making a historical proclamation than getting on with governing the nation in a fair and equitable manner.

Their new back and green rainbow as I call it is very secular and very unimpressive. It does not always reflect our reality or the capacity for the population to cope with the costs, both personal and monetary.

A referendum does not ensure that politicians will listen or act any better than history shows us they have in the past. The thinking of politicians is by nature based on ideology and their actions based on this and self-interest, mainly re-election and personal kudos.

Governments responsibility should be to govern the country for all people no matter their ethnic history, voting preference or geographic circumstances. This rarely happens no matter the level of government or the party they belong to. We have become a secular country governed by secular government , no matter the party in power. This only leads to a divided nation with individual groups seeking more oxygen than the majority. No government State or Federal always does what is needed for either black or white constituents now because of monetary constraints or because they don’t listen or don’t want to.

The Voice as the political elite are calling it will be the voice of a minority and who knows if they will take any notice or act on it and we are not hearing of any downside to this Voice. There is no evidence that all groups or individuals of Aboriginal decent are in agreement with the notion of a Voice to Federal Parliament. There are already 11 voices there as either members in the house or senators which have been elected by both black & white, Labor, Liberal, National and any other minority group you can think of. But this is a true reflection of the majority of people across Australia in every state at the recent federal election that were held.  Once in the constitution we will have to live with it because we won’t be able to change it?

We can already see the division between the different groups and individuals in the Aboriginal political and  mission leaders. Then there is the political divide where some politicians are afraid of being seen as racist if they don’t respond in a positive manner to the Voice. Lastly there is the varying views of the wider public which is subjecting people to abuse and ridicule if you don’t support the idea of black racism superiority in the notion of the Voice. It is a thoroughly divisionary and bad idea with little to no upside and plenty of down side and we should all take it upon ourselves to speak or minds no matter if we support or deride the proposal to divide the Australian population through the Voice referendum.   

Vote No

Richard Holme,

Edmonton.