Thank you for writing this. I voted 'no'. I'm not even on social media and I copped the dynamics you are talking about here. I also deeply dislike (in my nature unfortunately) being told "Do this or you're a *insert socially ostracizing label here*." I'm not stupid, all I needed to change my mind was ONE actual reason with some serious rationality behind it and I would have voted differently. No one made a compelling argument other than some vague sentiment/vibe/whatever the kids are calling it these days and the Yes campaign UTTERLY screwed the pooch and our good will with it.
First nations people are my fellow citizens and its shameful that they experience ridiculous levels of poverty and social problems. We should do better, we should be taking a subsidiarity approach to these problems and allow the people closest to the problem to take the initiative in solving them. Bureaucrats in Canberra have ZERO idea of what it is like to be in Wadeye, Santa Teresa or even Alice Springs (I only know second hand from former Parish Priests who lived there, and family members who lived there until recently). They should be taking direction from people who actually live there, not the other way around.
I'm just as disappointed (but not surprised) and I'm bracing for the ridiculous wailing and gnashing of teeth about how all of us first or second generation immigrants are ignoramus racists. I wish you did publish that piece you were talking about. Far more shameful than this whole debacle is that a (rare) decent and intelligent academic cannot make a contrarian public statement without having their reputation or their position threatened.
I have a very similar background to you - I don't absolutely *know* that my black g-g-g-grandfather was aboriginal rather than some other sort of black ethnicity since nobody put his name on the birth certificate, but racism certainly impacted his visibly black daughter and granddaughter, given what society was like at the time.
Among the many many problems I saw with *this* implementation of recognition is this - if the Voice had been in existence 50 years ago I'm quite certain that my grandmother would have signed up as a person of Indigenous ancestry in order to vote in it, rather than "passing" and forgetting about the inconvenient branches of her family tree, as was quite easy for her to do. And then, what mechanism is there to stop first my mother then my middle class privately educated child-of-two-PhDs self from also being counted as part of the Indigenous community, despite having no disadvantage to overcome?
There is such a strong taboo over putting any bounds on people's membership of an identity group that they wish to claim membership of that I see no way of preventing people like me - of some Indigenous heritage but no actual disadvantage - from overrunning this body which is supposed to help out those with actual cultural difference and actual disadvantage. And there are probably hundreds of thousands of us, and it's a group that is clearly growing much faster than the seriously disadvantaged and culturally distinct groups that we actually want to help.
The handwaving of serious issues like this (or unwillingness to even see that this could be a problem) has been a serious impediment to my having any belief that the Voice could actually acheive progress in the very difficult task which would have been before it.
I very much understand your point of view. I don’t identify as Indigenous. I don’t look Indigenous, I don’t know anything about Darumbal culture, I have never suffered any disadvantage on that basis, and I would feel that I was taking away benefits from people who desperately need it. My grandfather was dark-skinned, and he would haunt me if I ever tried to take such benefits.
My parents were from poor working-class backgrounds, but I had every middle class opportunity they could gain for me. For me to claim any disadvantage feels wrong; also I do not think I should be part of a Voice. But there would be others who would feel differently.
Conversely I am happy to have help from the NDIS, for example, because I have suffered from disadvantage as a result of being disabled.
So many of these things depend on everyone involved being sensitive and good-hearted, and having lots of self awareness of the different ways in which people might be having a hard time
I feel like we used to have more of this awareness, but are losing it in our large impersonal world
I voted Yes and campaigned for the Yes vote, and I would do so again, but it was not possible for me to avoid noticing mistakes and room for improvement in the way in which the Voice proposal and the referendum were managed and campaigned for by the Federal Government and other supporters.
The plain fact is that a proposal that was being supported by 65% of those polled when polling on the topic began in 2022 has received (at the time I am posting this) 39.49% of the vote. That some 25% of voters who were initially sympathetic to Voice changed their minds to vote against it can't be explained by simplistic accusations of racism. The racists (and they do exist) were always in the "No" column, but it was not their votes that proved decisive in the referendum.
Surprisingly, I am actually sympathetic to Lydia Thorpe’s position - perhaps not methods! This was such a compromised proposal that I struggled to vote for it. I tried to ignore the marketing because the marketing was inane on both sides.
I have a deep interest in New Zealand, and although many mistakes have been made over there, I have some admiration for the way that strange, little Parliament works, with its reserved seats. There are deep, historical reasons why we are different from New Zealand, and the treaty there certainly is problematic, but - as actually happens a fair bit - NZ has some ideas we should look at.
Very well written, I voted No as I believe we are all Australian and I could not work out how the voice was going to make any difference to those that are disadvantaged. I acknowledge that there are whole indigenous communities in need but there are also a lot of other Australians in need. Hence assistance should be given on the basis of need, no matter who you are.
As a registered nurse in rural Victoria I have looked after many patients from all cultures that are disadvantaged and it breaks my heart.
As you mentioned people have to stop with the victim hood mentality, there are aboriginal people that are well off. I was quite disappointed with a friend’s daughter who’s father was aboriginal. She was born to an Australian mother with Welsh Italian background. My friends daughter is very attractive, has a loving family on both sides, has had an education, clothed, fed and not wanted for anything. She is also a good athlete and has ran in marathons overseas. She has a son to a very wealthy Englishman, who has supported this young lady completely. This young woman is employed and is a very loving mother to her son. This young part aboriginal woman posted on FB ‘today i feel saddened and worry for the future of my son’.
Her son has nothing to be worried about. He is loved, dressed in designer kid’s clothes, and doesn’t go with out anything. It is aboriginal people that are privileged that frustrate me when they play the victim card and get away with it, especially when there are so many other people struggling.
Re: KP's comment "I also deeply dislike (in my nature unfortunately) being told "Do this or you're a *insert socially ostracizing label here*." I'm not stupid, all I needed to change my mind was ONE actual reason with some serious rationality behind it and I would have voted differently. No one made a compelling argument "
That reminds me of how I felt after the UK's 2016 Brexit referendum.
The Remain camp's case was almost wholly negative - we'll be poorer, GDP will crater, etc. - with anyone voting Leave painted as a racist gammon.
We've still got roughly the same broad divisions: if anything, the bitterness at the extremes has intensified.
Good luck recovering from this, Aus, you're going to need it.
Yes, I was very much reminded of the Brexit vote, and I could see Yes heading into the Remain territory. I hope bitterness is not the result. If I was the PM, I’d move swiftly to respond, and to do something constructive, but…
I listened to this talk by Warren Mundine later in the the evening after the referendum was defeated and it confirmed me in my opinion that No was the correct answer, despite feeling sad for people who thought a Yes vote would make a difference.
"Warren Mundine addresses the National Press Club". He starts off gently but the warrior spirit of the man flares during the 30 minutes of questioning by the press who to a man/woman demonstrated that they were behind the Yes campaign.
Oct 15, 2023·edited Oct 15, 2023Liked by Katy Barnett
It's also rather telling how little attention has been paid to what the proposed law actually does. The details about exactly how this new Voice would work and what powers it would have are extremely vague and Australians have good reason to distrust the people who would be fleshing it out.
I can well understand why people voted no. I actually didn’t know which way to vote until the morning, but then I thought about the political dynamics rather than the emotion, and figured that this was such an appallingly vague proposition, that it really didn’t matter. It was then actually easy to vote yes, because the proposition put to us was only symbolic, and was entirely at the mercy of the parliament. If it went wrong it would be defunded. If it was going well it could be expanded. I actually have a lot of sympathy for the view that the proposition gave too little to my brothers and sisters. But it was the only proposition I got to vote on, so I suppose I did what I did.
I don’t think you were alone. I’ve spoken to others who changed their minds or only made up their minds on the day. It was so hard, and I felt just utterly miserable last night. Actually in tears, because the last thing I want is for people to feel that we don’t care. The truth is much more complex.
I am still in tears. Not because "others" may feel we don't care but that there are Australians who don't. Your article has covered a wide array of valid points. I also agree with David that the proposition was symbolic- a potentially significant symbol. There is one point you made that I believe is of paramount importance. That of divisiveness and imagined communities, an increasing phenomenon in our world. An example just a few minutes ago voiced by a neighbor who asked me why I appeared upset. Their reply when I explained the reason for my tears "I'm Jewish I don't care about The Voice".
I always think of this in terms of the coverage in global publications. The correspondent for the Economist for Australia & New Zealand, always put us in a bad light, and that will happen again. When you get 150 words in a global publication, she seems always to find a way of portraying us as backward and hateful. No room for light and shade when you are reporting from the wrong side of the world.
I am so glad to see reference to immigrants in this post. One of the many ignored communities in the Voice referendum were the recent immigrants to Australia who later became Aus citizens. In Sydney, immigrants residing in Western Sydney voted NO whereas those in Eastern Sydney voted YES. Lots of disinformation within Western Sydney communities too. One learning for me was that immigrants are generally not readily accepting of "special benefits" to those who are historically disadvantaged in their adopted country because they think they are victimized by the State for being an immigrant (for example, no healthcare benefits despite paying taxes).
That’s why I wrote the initial “information only” post a few months ago - because I spoke to recent immigrants who were confused. Most people to whom I spoke wanted to be generous and help, but they just weren’t sure about this particular proposal.
Oct 16, 2023·edited Oct 16, 2023Liked by Katy Barnett
I only wish the “information only” post went viral before the referendum !!! :-)
It is not the case that recent immigrants are daft ignoramus racists. Australia often skews towards high skilled capital based immigration. However, recent immigrants just did not know enough. I spoke to my Indian friends in Adelaide's outer suburbs and they did not know what the proposal was about. For example, something I heard via hearsay was that the YES vote would mean some people getting special deals/offers over others through fracking benefits. The absence of credible information meant the presence of incremental confusion.
And exactly re recent immigrants. I have just said on Twitter/X that almost no one to whom I spoke said anything racist (one exception). But there was a lot of distrust, fear and confusion, and with some of the questions - I honestly couldn’t answer them. The lack of detail meant - how could I say for sure how the government would set up the Voice once the Yes vote passed? And in the void of information, wild possibilities flourished.
There were some parts which were bamboozling to me. Why did the govt not just say, “We’ll pass legislation to stop administrative review if people are scared about that”??? Easy enough to do. Instead, they just said, “you don’t have to worry about that.”
This just goes to show that despite being in the same country different people live in different worlds. In the public school near me, which was also a polling station, everywhere you looked, there were only 'YES' placards and volunteers, with not a single 'NO' sign in sight. It "felt" as though the entire community was unanimously leaning one way. But the electorate result shows only 41% Yes vote. It made me think- immigrants in my western Sydney neighborhood coming from a country where the government's every move is regarded with deep skepticism, this singular representation of YES should raise eyebrows. Why would anyone blindly vote along the lines advocated by the government? This isn't a matter of being less generous or lacking concern for the disadvantaged communities such as Indigenous people. It's more about being informed, about having access to all perspectives before making a choice. I was not surprised that the "Vote no if you don't know" slogan, though simplistic, may have found resonance among many immigrant communities especially in my own neighbourhood. A poignant reminder of the many 'worlds' that exist within one country.
EXACTLY. I listened to people - and it was startling what different worlds people come from. The Serbian woman I mention in the post ended up telling me that she liked the embroidery I did, and told me of how she and her aunt had done embroidery as bombs fell in the former Yugoslavia, to keep their minds off the possibility of death. I feel like I should give her some of my embroidery. (And I don’t know what she voted, she was dithering - it was a long 30 minute conversation as she told me her reasons for Yes and No.)
Hah, actually, she enjoyed having someone she could “safely” talk over her doubts and the pros and cons, but she did ALSO want to talk about the embroidery…
Thank you for this post Katy, I appreciate the genuine compassion evident within it. I voted 'Yes' with gladness, and have been feeling a sense of grief over the results, so the care evident in your writing helps ease some of the blackest doubts my depression has given me about some of my fellow countrymen. I never thought the Voice was an end, but that it could have been a very good step to help the conversation.
I certainly agree that the Yes campaign's communication fell short, and was often overwhelmed by multiple streams of No disinformation, so that listening to many voicing why they voted against the Voice sounds like they were voting in an entirely different referendum. I remember when I first read through the proposal that it seemed like such a modest ask that I didn't imagine anyone could have any significant problem with it.
I can only imagine how heart-breaking it must be for the Indigenous people who worked so hard and so long to bring the Voice before the Australian people. If someone who has faced long-running trauma asks you for help in a way that won't take anything from you and might help them a great deal, it will understandably be very hard for them to interpret a denial as anything other than a distinct lack of kindness.
I just want to join the chorus of thanks for this very nicely put piece 😁
I think the worst part is the yes people retreating to all the vicious little "remain" tropes about racists and fear and whatnot.
As I've tried to reassure some people, there are many many other things we could do for indigenous people in this country (even if I have an allergic reaction to doing things for other people in general, I think and have since I was in my twenties that Australia's indigenous people were an exception). Many of those things might well be better!
And for those who really did think the Voice was the best thing, well guess what? The current government can still legislate for it! They have a specific head of power to do it under and a majority in both houses supported Yes!
So get off your prejudiced nasty sooky little horses and keep going. If you are desperate, read something, I recommend letter from Birmingham jail, but there are many other options.
Yes, I’m dismayed by the retreat into the Remain tropes - it’s misinformation, it’s racism, people are stupid etc. No doubt in some instances these were factors, but there were significant flaws with the way Yes was put, as painful as that may be for those who argued for it and who were entirely dedicated to the cause.
Thank you for writing this. I voted 'no'. I'm not even on social media and I copped the dynamics you are talking about here. I also deeply dislike (in my nature unfortunately) being told "Do this or you're a *insert socially ostracizing label here*." I'm not stupid, all I needed to change my mind was ONE actual reason with some serious rationality behind it and I would have voted differently. No one made a compelling argument other than some vague sentiment/vibe/whatever the kids are calling it these days and the Yes campaign UTTERLY screwed the pooch and our good will with it.
First nations people are my fellow citizens and its shameful that they experience ridiculous levels of poverty and social problems. We should do better, we should be taking a subsidiarity approach to these problems and allow the people closest to the problem to take the initiative in solving them. Bureaucrats in Canberra have ZERO idea of what it is like to be in Wadeye, Santa Teresa or even Alice Springs (I only know second hand from former Parish Priests who lived there, and family members who lived there until recently). They should be taking direction from people who actually live there, not the other way around.
I'm just as disappointed (but not surprised) and I'm bracing for the ridiculous wailing and gnashing of teeth about how all of us first or second generation immigrants are ignoramus racists. I wish you did publish that piece you were talking about. Far more shameful than this whole debacle is that a (rare) decent and intelligent academic cannot make a contrarian public statement without having their reputation or their position threatened.
I am so glad you wrote this
I have a very similar background to you - I don't absolutely *know* that my black g-g-g-grandfather was aboriginal rather than some other sort of black ethnicity since nobody put his name on the birth certificate, but racism certainly impacted his visibly black daughter and granddaughter, given what society was like at the time.
Among the many many problems I saw with *this* implementation of recognition is this - if the Voice had been in existence 50 years ago I'm quite certain that my grandmother would have signed up as a person of Indigenous ancestry in order to vote in it, rather than "passing" and forgetting about the inconvenient branches of her family tree, as was quite easy for her to do. And then, what mechanism is there to stop first my mother then my middle class privately educated child-of-two-PhDs self from also being counted as part of the Indigenous community, despite having no disadvantage to overcome?
There is such a strong taboo over putting any bounds on people's membership of an identity group that they wish to claim membership of that I see no way of preventing people like me - of some Indigenous heritage but no actual disadvantage - from overrunning this body which is supposed to help out those with actual cultural difference and actual disadvantage. And there are probably hundreds of thousands of us, and it's a group that is clearly growing much faster than the seriously disadvantaged and culturally distinct groups that we actually want to help.
The handwaving of serious issues like this (or unwillingness to even see that this could be a problem) has been a serious impediment to my having any belief that the Voice could actually acheive progress in the very difficult task which would have been before it.
I very much understand your point of view. I don’t identify as Indigenous. I don’t look Indigenous, I don’t know anything about Darumbal culture, I have never suffered any disadvantage on that basis, and I would feel that I was taking away benefits from people who desperately need it. My grandfather was dark-skinned, and he would haunt me if I ever tried to take such benefits.
My parents were from poor working-class backgrounds, but I had every middle class opportunity they could gain for me. For me to claim any disadvantage feels wrong; also I do not think I should be part of a Voice. But there would be others who would feel differently.
Conversely I am happy to have help from the NDIS, for example, because I have suffered from disadvantage as a result of being disabled.
So many of these things depend on everyone involved being sensitive and good-hearted, and having lots of self awareness of the different ways in which people might be having a hard time
I feel like we used to have more of this awareness, but are losing it in our large impersonal world
I voted Yes and campaigned for the Yes vote, and I would do so again, but it was not possible for me to avoid noticing mistakes and room for improvement in the way in which the Voice proposal and the referendum were managed and campaigned for by the Federal Government and other supporters.
The plain fact is that a proposal that was being supported by 65% of those polled when polling on the topic began in 2022 has received (at the time I am posting this) 39.49% of the vote. That some 25% of voters who were initially sympathetic to Voice changed their minds to vote against it can't be explained by simplistic accusations of racism. The racists (and they do exist) were always in the "No" column, but it was not their votes that proved decisive in the referendum.
Exactly so. There are some people who voted No are racist. But I don’t think that explains the result in this instance..
Surprisingly, I am actually sympathetic to Lydia Thorpe’s position - perhaps not methods! This was such a compromised proposal that I struggled to vote for it. I tried to ignore the marketing because the marketing was inane on both sides.
I have a deep interest in New Zealand, and although many mistakes have been made over there, I have some admiration for the way that strange, little Parliament works, with its reserved seats. There are deep, historical reasons why we are different from New Zealand, and the treaty there certainly is problematic, but - as actually happens a fair bit - NZ has some ideas we should look at.
The marketing was appalling. Each side were their own worst enemies… Speaking to the converted rather than the unconverted.
Very well written, I voted No as I believe we are all Australian and I could not work out how the voice was going to make any difference to those that are disadvantaged. I acknowledge that there are whole indigenous communities in need but there are also a lot of other Australians in need. Hence assistance should be given on the basis of need, no matter who you are.
As a registered nurse in rural Victoria I have looked after many patients from all cultures that are disadvantaged and it breaks my heart.
As you mentioned people have to stop with the victim hood mentality, there are aboriginal people that are well off. I was quite disappointed with a friend’s daughter who’s father was aboriginal. She was born to an Australian mother with Welsh Italian background. My friends daughter is very attractive, has a loving family on both sides, has had an education, clothed, fed and not wanted for anything. She is also a good athlete and has ran in marathons overseas. She has a son to a very wealthy Englishman, who has supported this young lady completely. This young woman is employed and is a very loving mother to her son. This young part aboriginal woman posted on FB ‘today i feel saddened and worry for the future of my son’.
Her son has nothing to be worried about. He is loved, dressed in designer kid’s clothes, and doesn’t go with out anything. It is aboriginal people that are privileged that frustrate me when they play the victim card and get away with it, especially when there are so many other people struggling.
Re: KP's comment "I also deeply dislike (in my nature unfortunately) being told "Do this or you're a *insert socially ostracizing label here*." I'm not stupid, all I needed to change my mind was ONE actual reason with some serious rationality behind it and I would have voted differently. No one made a compelling argument "
That reminds me of how I felt after the UK's 2016 Brexit referendum.
The Remain camp's case was almost wholly negative - we'll be poorer, GDP will crater, etc. - with anyone voting Leave painted as a racist gammon.
We've still got roughly the same broad divisions: if anything, the bitterness at the extremes has intensified.
Good luck recovering from this, Aus, you're going to need it.
Yes, I was very much reminded of the Brexit vote, and I could see Yes heading into the Remain territory. I hope bitterness is not the result. If I was the PM, I’d move swiftly to respond, and to do something constructive, but…
I listened to this talk by Warren Mundine later in the the evening after the referendum was defeated and it confirmed me in my opinion that No was the correct answer, despite feeling sad for people who thought a Yes vote would make a difference.
"Warren Mundine addresses the National Press Club". He starts off gently but the warrior spirit of the man flares during the 30 minutes of questioning by the press who to a man/woman demonstrated that they were behind the Yes campaign.
It's also rather telling how little attention has been paid to what the proposed law actually does. The details about exactly how this new Voice would work and what powers it would have are extremely vague and Australians have good reason to distrust the people who would be fleshing it out.
Utterly superb, eloquent explanation of exactly how I feel
I can well understand why people voted no. I actually didn’t know which way to vote until the morning, but then I thought about the political dynamics rather than the emotion, and figured that this was such an appallingly vague proposition, that it really didn’t matter. It was then actually easy to vote yes, because the proposition put to us was only symbolic, and was entirely at the mercy of the parliament. If it went wrong it would be defunded. If it was going well it could be expanded. I actually have a lot of sympathy for the view that the proposition gave too little to my brothers and sisters. But it was the only proposition I got to vote on, so I suppose I did what I did.
I don’t think you were alone. I’ve spoken to others who changed their minds or only made up their minds on the day. It was so hard, and I felt just utterly miserable last night. Actually in tears, because the last thing I want is for people to feel that we don’t care. The truth is much more complex.
I am still in tears. Not because "others" may feel we don't care but that there are Australians who don't. Your article has covered a wide array of valid points. I also agree with David that the proposition was symbolic- a potentially significant symbol. There is one point you made that I believe is of paramount importance. That of divisiveness and imagined communities, an increasing phenomenon in our world. An example just a few minutes ago voiced by a neighbor who asked me why I appeared upset. Their reply when I explained the reason for my tears "I'm Jewish I don't care about The Voice".
Dr Shauna McGlone
All I can say is that I sympathise. It’s actually amazingly upsetting. I hope that we do something symbolic, perhaps in smaller compass. Small steps.
Katy
Thank you. Sadly, at the end of my life I have come to the conclusion that hope is over-rated.
I always think of this in terms of the coverage in global publications. The correspondent for the Economist for Australia & New Zealand, always put us in a bad light, and that will happen again. When you get 150 words in a global publication, she seems always to find a way of portraying us as backward and hateful. No room for light and shade when you are reporting from the wrong side of the world.
I am so glad to see reference to immigrants in this post. One of the many ignored communities in the Voice referendum were the recent immigrants to Australia who later became Aus citizens. In Sydney, immigrants residing in Western Sydney voted NO whereas those in Eastern Sydney voted YES. Lots of disinformation within Western Sydney communities too. One learning for me was that immigrants are generally not readily accepting of "special benefits" to those who are historically disadvantaged in their adopted country because they think they are victimized by the State for being an immigrant (for example, no healthcare benefits despite paying taxes).
That’s why I wrote the initial “information only” post a few months ago - because I spoke to recent immigrants who were confused. Most people to whom I spoke wanted to be generous and help, but they just weren’t sure about this particular proposal.
I only wish the “information only” post went viral before the referendum !!! :-)
It is not the case that recent immigrants are daft ignoramus racists. Australia often skews towards high skilled capital based immigration. However, recent immigrants just did not know enough. I spoke to my Indian friends in Adelaide's outer suburbs and they did not know what the proposal was about. For example, something I heard via hearsay was that the YES vote would mean some people getting special deals/offers over others through fracking benefits. The absence of credible information meant the presence of incremental confusion.
I wanted it to go viral too.
And exactly re recent immigrants. I have just said on Twitter/X that almost no one to whom I spoke said anything racist (one exception). But there was a lot of distrust, fear and confusion, and with some of the questions - I honestly couldn’t answer them. The lack of detail meant - how could I say for sure how the government would set up the Voice once the Yes vote passed? And in the void of information, wild possibilities flourished.
There were some parts which were bamboozling to me. Why did the govt not just say, “We’ll pass legislation to stop administrative review if people are scared about that”??? Easy enough to do. Instead, they just said, “you don’t have to worry about that.”
This just goes to show that despite being in the same country different people live in different worlds. In the public school near me, which was also a polling station, everywhere you looked, there were only 'YES' placards and volunteers, with not a single 'NO' sign in sight. It "felt" as though the entire community was unanimously leaning one way. But the electorate result shows only 41% Yes vote. It made me think- immigrants in my western Sydney neighborhood coming from a country where the government's every move is regarded with deep skepticism, this singular representation of YES should raise eyebrows. Why would anyone blindly vote along the lines advocated by the government? This isn't a matter of being less generous or lacking concern for the disadvantaged communities such as Indigenous people. It's more about being informed, about having access to all perspectives before making a choice. I was not surprised that the "Vote no if you don't know" slogan, though simplistic, may have found resonance among many immigrant communities especially in my own neighbourhood. A poignant reminder of the many 'worlds' that exist within one country.
EXACTLY. I listened to people - and it was startling what different worlds people come from. The Serbian woman I mention in the post ended up telling me that she liked the embroidery I did, and told me of how she and her aunt had done embroidery as bombs fell in the former Yugoslavia, to keep their minds off the possibility of death. I feel like I should give her some of my embroidery. (And I don’t know what she voted, she was dithering - it was a long 30 minute conversation as she told me her reasons for Yes and No.)
Bless the Serbian woman- all she wanted was to talk about embroidery and not all this Voice referendum talk. 😀
Hah, actually, she enjoyed having someone she could “safely” talk over her doubts and the pros and cons, but she did ALSO want to talk about the embroidery…
Thank you for this post Katy, I appreciate the genuine compassion evident within it. I voted 'Yes' with gladness, and have been feeling a sense of grief over the results, so the care evident in your writing helps ease some of the blackest doubts my depression has given me about some of my fellow countrymen. I never thought the Voice was an end, but that it could have been a very good step to help the conversation.
I certainly agree that the Yes campaign's communication fell short, and was often overwhelmed by multiple streams of No disinformation, so that listening to many voicing why they voted against the Voice sounds like they were voting in an entirely different referendum. I remember when I first read through the proposal that it seemed like such a modest ask that I didn't imagine anyone could have any significant problem with it.
I can only imagine how heart-breaking it must be for the Indigenous people who worked so hard and so long to bring the Voice before the Australian people. If someone who has faced long-running trauma asks you for help in a way that won't take anything from you and might help them a great deal, it will understandably be very hard for them to interpret a denial as anything other than a distinct lack of kindness.
Yes. I totally understand how upset people must be, particularly those who have put six years of work into this, or more.
I just want to join the chorus of thanks for this very nicely put piece 😁
I think the worst part is the yes people retreating to all the vicious little "remain" tropes about racists and fear and whatnot.
As I've tried to reassure some people, there are many many other things we could do for indigenous people in this country (even if I have an allergic reaction to doing things for other people in general, I think and have since I was in my twenties that Australia's indigenous people were an exception). Many of those things might well be better!
And for those who really did think the Voice was the best thing, well guess what? The current government can still legislate for it! They have a specific head of power to do it under and a majority in both houses supported Yes!
So get off your prejudiced nasty sooky little horses and keep going. If you are desperate, read something, I recommend letter from Birmingham jail, but there are many other options.
Yes, I’m dismayed by the retreat into the Remain tropes - it’s misinformation, it’s racism, people are stupid etc. No doubt in some instances these were factors, but there were significant flaws with the way Yes was put, as painful as that may be for those who argued for it and who were entirely dedicated to the cause.
Great Article! We all can learn from it!
https://www.youtube.com/live/JAkzeVw_KL4?si=s-kEXBQRlGYtaFwZ