With the Voice to Parliament Referendum date announced to be October 14 2023, this thread will run in the lead up to the date for general discussions/queries regarding the Voice to Parliament.
The Proposed Constitutional Amendment
Chapter IX Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice
In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:
there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice; the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.
Past Discussions
Here are some previous posts in this community regarding the referendum:
- The Voice referendum official Yes/No pamphlets
- Linda Burney says there is everything to gain and nothing to lose by supporting the Voice
- Families distressed after 'highly misleading' video used by anti-Voice campaigners goes viral
- The Indigenous Voice to Parliament – separating fact from fiction | 7.30
- 10 questions about the Voice to Parliament - answered by the experts
- The yes pamphlet: campaign’s voice to parliament referendum essay – annotated and factchecked
- Fact-checking for the "No" referendum pamphlet was not compulsory
Common Misinformation
- "The Uluru Statement from the Heart is 26 Pages not 1" - not true
Government Information
- Referendum question and constitutional amendment
- voice.gov.au - General information about the Voice
Amendments to this post
If you would like to see some other articles or posts linked here please let me know and I'll try to add it as soon as possible.
- Added the proposed constitutional amendment (31/08/2023)
- Added Common Misinformation section (01/07/2023)
Discussion / Rules
Please follow the rules in the sidebar and for aussie.zone in general. Anything deemed to be misinformation or with malicious intent will be removed at moderators' discretion. This is a safe space to discuss your opinion on the voice or ask general questions.
Please continue posting news articles as separate posts but consider adding a link to this post to encourage discussion.
Literally every one of my indigenous friends and colleagues that I've spoken to are voting no, including some who work for our government and are very well respected in their communities and in the government. Some run indigenous businesses and not for profits, some are elders and aunties/uncles, many are actively out there trying to make life better for indigenous people. I wasn't sure which way to vote, but I'll be voting no after speaking to them.
They all echoed the same thoughts - it's virtue signalling, and they don't want a seat at that table where they are not guaranteed to actually be listened to or respected.
I didn't say that was the argument though. As you noted, I gave the reasons why they said they were voting no and why I'll be voting no as well, because I agree with them. It just looks like white people virtue signalling so they can go "look how awesome and not racist we are! we're giving the indigenous people some crayons and a seat at the table where we can continue to not listen to them" while also making them feel good because they then feel justified in being able to call people they disagree with racists.
I don't get the issue with 'virtue signalling'. At all.
Before any societal change can happen, a pre-requisite is virtuous behaviour and 'signals'?
This is clearly a journey, not the end destination. So why on earth would you want to not take the first step just because it doesn't take you instantly to the destination?
You do realise what happened after the republican referendum lost? You won't see this again in at least a generation. That's what we're really voting on. No will mean "Yeah, nah. The people voted on that. Maybe take a look again in (waves hand) the future".
And you know every time something remotely to do with indigenous rights/culture comes up, people will refer back and say "The country voted No".
But thank god, at least we will have defeated "virtue signalling".....
The issue with virtue signalling is that it’s used to pretend you’re doing something without actually having to do it. The voice is pretending to give the indigenous people some power while not actually giving them anything noteworthy. They’re acknowledged in the white settler’s constitution but basically as an afterthought for us to ignore.
My, and many others issue, is that this “first step” will in fact be treated for decades as the destination. We don’t want nothing to be done to help indigenous people, we want more done to help them. We want meaningful change, something protected that actually gives them power, not a promise that we’ll let them say something without promising that we’ll listen and take action.
Will some people point to a no win as “nothing needs to be done”? Absolutely, but I think those will just be the minority of straight up racists. More people will still want something done, just not token gestures.
If you can't get a Yes vote on such a "meaningless, token" (I'd rather call it 'symbolic', or 'aspirational') change, then how can you expect or hope for more substantial changes to pass?
Well I’m voting no because it’s meaningless. We shouldn’t be putting meaningless things in to the constitution.
If it was actually meaningful change I’d be voting yes.
It's all good. Everyone is entitled to vote how they want, and for whatever reason they want.
I'm just feeling a bit sad, because I don't see this passing, and I can't see any path forward without a Yes vote 🙁
That’s honestly the only thing making me consider voting yes. I don’t want to be partly responsible for nothing being done even if I don’t think voting yes will do anything either.
It's only meaningless in the sense it doesn't have any legislative power. Committees like this have strong roots in our democracy and have extreme benefit both to policy institutes and parliament itself in developing legislation. Parliamentary practice in this country would be dysfunctional if legislative committees and policy institutes didn't exist, this is just allowing that same power of research and representation that is afforded to committees to a group of people who had their sovereignty and institutions stripped from them with zero recourse.
Pretty massive thing that it doesn't have, and why it's pointless. There have been and still are many indigenous advisory committees, what's another one without any power actually going to do? Have a look at this one where a few of the indigenous members recently quit because, shock horror, they felt that their work on the advisory body was not being listened to or helping at all.
https://aussie.zone/comment/2748827
We would never abandon our commitment to consular assistance in Russia just because the government may not listen to us. We regard it as a duty regardless of perception in the current moment. We also know that different times will produce different outcomes in those efforts, and that ultimately representation isn't doesn't force anyone's hand in helping Australians. We may bring up issues that are gaining traction domestically but aren't heard by the RU gov, or let them see from our POV. We get all of this with a voice. Even if we are completely ignored, these benefits help in pushing our concerns across a wider audience that may have previously not heard them.
I think it's worth basically ignoring anyone who says "I've spoken to indigenous people." In fact I would suggest anyone (for or against) who speaks to people around them and makes that judgment should consider consulting surveys/polls, rather than relying on their small circles as a sample size.
Where did they say that? Are you really going to call the user a liar for saying they know Indigenous Australians? That's weak tea.
Did you forget what you wrote?
2 points:
I didn't write it. Whirlybird didn't just say "I've spoken to indigenous people" they gave examples of the different people they spoke with. Just because you haven't ever had a real conversation with an Aboriginal Australian doesn't mean none of us have.
If you don't trust anyone on here why bother? It isn't difficult to discern a bad faith argument.
You trust polling but not another human that you are peaking to through the internet? Anecdotal evidence isn't perfect but polling has financial reasons to push lies and special accounting tricks to make the numbers say whatever they want.
The polling is massively skewed. I cant find a single poll where they exclude anyone who hasn't read the proposed amendment.
Indigenous peoples want a voice to parliament that is enshrined and protected by the constitution and so do I But the majority of the yes voters have been misled to believe the referendum will give them that. Anyone who reads the constitutional amendment critically will see it is the way the referendum is written is just a empty gesture to delay real action.
They didn't give any more examples than a politician saying they've spoken to people in the community.
As far as I'm concerned anyone making this sort of argument should be ignored because it's the easiest form of bad faith argument.
This is true, and you can make an argument against the polling, but that's an argument that can actually be had. You can't argue with random anecdotes. I don't understand how you can simultaneously point out legit issues with polls but also accept unverifiable anecdotes.
I agree it's a risk. There's a lot of really easy things the country could be doing to help indigenous Australians and this may not help while just being a massive distraction.
You think the people responding to polls aren't subject to selection bias? I don't care what polls of random people with unknown selection criteria and reach say, I care about what the people I know and trust have to say on the issue. Blindly believing polls is absolutely absurd.
Cool, so why should anyone listen to anything you say?
Polls are only so accurate and can be subject to a range of issues as well sure. The difference is the sample size is much larger, and you can generally find a polling organisations methodology so you can probably see how they collected results broadly, if you have an issue with the methodology you should argue with that.
You shouldn't if I make claims that I know people and they say X.
Oh god, even the “progressives” here have started calling everyone that they disagree with fascists now.
You’re virtue signalling a bit too hard mate. People like you are why many indigenous people don’t want this Voice.