The Voice – or Lack Of

“… Whatever the government says about remote representation (on the voice) it’s almost certain to be dominated by city-based activists demanding changes to Australia Day, treaties and reparations, and claiming that problems on the ground are the result of racism and colonialism, rather than the inevitable consequence of kids not going to school, adults not going to work, and communities not being properly policed…”

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“…Take the epidemic of domestic dysfunction afflicting Alice Springs and other remote townships. Labor reckons that this just proves we need a constitutionally entrenched Indigenous Voice to everyone on everything.

Labor’s line is that Alice shows everything else has failed and that’s why we need a Voice; when instead, the Voice would be doubling down on failure.

That’s because the Voice is all about the same activists who’ve dominated Indigenous policy for years and are responsible for good policies (like grog bans) being thrown out because some claimed it was racist. Worse still, the Voice is predicated on being ‘advisory’, so all care and no responsibility.

Nowhere is it planned for the Voice to take on the role of actually fixing anything and accepting the consequences if change doesn’t happen.

It’s just an elaborate con-job to create a whole new power structure at the heart of our Constitution, co-governance by stealth, that will do nothing to deal with the problems on the ground in so many remote Indigenous communities.

By contrast, the Libs think the crisis in Alice Springs proves the need for stronger government action on the ground – more police, more child protection etc – that the creation of a national Voice might make even more complicated and difficult.

Although Alice Springs remains a town in crisis, the Albanese government would still rather talk about the Voice than deal with the problems on the ground.

What’s the point of establishing a Voice if it’s not going to make any difference to the social disasters unfolding in towns like Alice?

Indeed, the Voice will only make the problems worse, because whatever the government says about remote representation, it’s almost certain to be dominated by city-based activists demanding changes to Australia Day, treaties and reparations, and claiming that problems on the ground are the result of racism and colonialism, rather than the inevitable consequence of kids not going to school, adults not going to work, and communities not being properly policed…”