Death2Litterers
I know it isn’t a popular view around here, but for the sake of a diversity of opinion, here is why I will be voting no.
I am of the view that all Australians should be treated equally in the eye of the law, regardless of the colour of their skin or who their grandparents are. I think the law should be race-blind.
I think it is a step in the wrong direction for Australia to have laws that separate Australians along racist lines. I think it’s a step in the wrong direction to enshrine in the constitution that people of one ethnic heritage get special representation that people of different ethnic heritage do not.
I don’t care who your dad was, or who his dad was, or who his dad was. Just because someone’s dad’s dad’s dad was in Australia before someone else’s shouldn’t entitle them to more representation to parliament than anyone else. You shouldn’t get special privilege just because you were born into a particular family lineage.
I think Australia needs to do more to help those who need help. Nobody should die in police custody. Everybody should have access to education. Anyone who is born into poverty should be lifted out of it. And any time the government is going to make laws, they should obviously consult with the people who those laws will affect.
Regardless of the colour of their skin.
Whether you call it race or cultural group, the argument doesn’t change. I think all Australians should be treated equally by the law, and any Australian who is disadvantaged should receive help, regardless of whether they’re part of one culture or another. Enshrining in the constitution that one cultural group gets extra representation to parliament that other cultural groups do not get is, in my view, a step away from the Australia that I want to live in.
I vote for politicians who support policies that I believe will make all Australians better off, and actively campaign to change the status quo in ways that I think are better. I also actively campaign against changing the status quo in ways that I think are worse. This is one of those ways.
I believe that anybody who is disadvantaged should be helped, and anybody who needs healthcare or education or assistance should receive it, and I believe that anytime the government is going to introduce or change laws, they should consult with the people those laws will affect. Regardless of whether those people are of aboriginal heritage or not. I don’t believe our laws should make special exceptions or treat people differently because of their race or culture or who their ancestors are.
I believe that all Australians should have representation to parliament. I don’t believe that anybody should have a ‘birthright’ to more representation just because of the family lineage they were born into.
I believe that any time the government is going to introduce or change laws, they should consult with the people those laws will affect. Regardless of the race or culture of those people.
It is indeed petty, and irrelevant.
I don’t want to just ‘recognise’ harm that was done. I want to make Australia a better place for everyone living in it, and help anyone who is born into disadvantage, regardless of their family lineage. I do not believe that the voice does that.
Could they have just tried to do so without a constitutional change? Probably.
Not probably. Definitely.
If the concern is that a body not enshrined in the constitution might be abolished by a future government, the same future government would just shrink a constitutionally established voice down to the bare minimum and ignore it, rendering it useless. Either way, the only real solution is to not elect shit governments in the future.
But my opinion is that it would provide overall more help than harm
I personally don’t believe it will provide help than harm. I believe the Voice a step towards an Australia in which people of different races are treated differently and racial discrimination is enshrined in our laws, and that is not something I desire.