Does the resounding defeat of the Voice referendum on the weekend show that Australia hasn’t changed much since the bad old days, or have things just become much worse?
Despite its many flaws, it’s always been difficult to improve the Constitution of this country. Knowing this, Anthony Albanese must have believed he was in with a chance after Labor’s big election win, and following years of bipartisan support for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, in some shape or form. But the addition of a permanent Voice, even one that didn’t have to be listened to, was a bridge too far for some.
Enter the unelectable duo of David Littleproud and Peter Dutton. Like all vandals, unable to create anything positive, they decided they would destroy the hard work of others. The dividers would accuse the Yes side of division. What followed was the greatest campaign of lies and misinformation this country has ever seen, driven by fear, and relying on the wilful ignorance of history.
Disgusting campaign
As Thomas Mayo put it on Saturday night, Peter Dutton’s chosen approach was ‘a disgusting campaign’.
Ignoring the actual substance of the referendum request, vast swathes of ordinary Australians were led to believe that their legal system, wealth and property were at risk, despite the weight of evidence to the contrary. Others decided their sovereignty was under threat from the UN, or whitefella law, or the Labor Party.
Carefully designed and targeted social media campaigns targeted the fears of particular minorities, with the whole thing underwritten by the usual suspects, including Clive Palmer and the Murdoch family, and a few newly imported contributors, such as the Conservative Political Action Network.
The Yes campaign seemed unprepared for this assault. The once-worshipped Farnesy and Barnesy were no match for the fear mongering, even when they were joined by sporting legends including Cathy Freeman, Johnathan Thurston, Darcy Moore and Nathan Cleary. In 2023, feel-good influencers couldn’t compete with old-fashioned scare tactics.
The success of the No campaign, following early experiments with the same approach from Abbott to Trump, and Brexit to Bolsanaro, suggests this is likely to become the defacto way of doing opposition politics in this country, which is now part of the pan-continental United States of Stupidity. Never mind that no solutions are being offered, and societies become steadily more fractured as a result, the old and powerful retain their power, and that’s apparently all that matters.
Dirty politics
By politicising an issue that should have been above politics, it’s clear that the political faces of the No campaign hoped to reap a dividend of some kind, having offered no meaningful approaches to closing the gap, just more of the same.
Presumably their shadowy backers are happy, but after inflicting untold damage on the most vulnerable people in Australia, Peter Dutton is no closer to being Prime Minister, and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is no closer to being his deputy.
The latest Newspoll, which accurately predicted the outcome of the referendum, suggests Labor is still comfortably ahead on a two-party preferred basis, despite the relentless attacks, and Anthony Albanese is preferred by half the electorate, compared to Dutton’s 30 per cent.
In the end, the Yes/No numbers on the weekend broke very similarly to the last referendum, on the republic, back in 1999, with voters who had both education and a bit of economic security being prepared to take a chance on changing the country for the better, and everyone else opting for the status quo. Traditional political divides were less significant, illustrating the real divide in Australia. As cost of living pressures bite, this one is deepening to a chasm.
What now?
The Labor Government could create another ATSIC, or a temporarily legislated Voice-type body, but it doesn’t sound like they have any intention of doing that.
As Senator Lidia Thorpe pointed out on referendum night, there’s nothing to stop Anthony Albanese moving to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, in full.
There’s also nothing to stop the states moving forward with their own treaties and truth-telling processes. Don’t hold your breath if you live in a resource-rich state like Queensland or Western Australia though.
After months of fighting about what was always a modest referendum proposal, it would be nice if the federal parliament could address, or at least discuss, some of the massive problems confronting the country when they return to Canberra today. Post-COVID, post-referendum, post-truth, it may be possible to run an opposition by wrecking ball, but you can’t run governments like that, unless you want to end up like Israel.
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning film-maker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.
Long ago, he did work experience in Parliament House with Mungo MacCallum.
David Lowe, No lost. You can carry on whingeing and whining how you were robbed by the big bad conservatives until the cows come home mate, it won’t change the result. The facts are, well over 60% of our population rejected Albo’s weak and deceiving voice referendum. The very wise and intelligent Aussie’s woke up to the arrogant and silly Albo long ago. While ever you have the likes of Mayo and Langton batting for your side expect the same result. You arrogantly say the unelectable Mr Dutton and Mr Littleproud, don’t bet your chicken farm on that old sport. The shine has come off the labor governnment to a point where all that is remaining is a tarnished shell. Voters with Education and economic security (Canberra bubble, wealthy teal seats) a small minority could afford to take a punt, what did they have to loose?. Your comment is a slap to the face of the huge majority that voted no, they too are educated and work long and hard for a living. It matters little what your celebrities, media magnates or billionaires say, the smart population saw through what was a very bad and divisive proposal. So get over it and move on, the next conservative conspiracy awaits your damning and scathing narrative.
Nice response. Agree. I didn’t listen to Dutton but made my own assessment. Without the Voice idea, it would have got up. Recognition is constitutionally a must.
Are we going to put recognition of the White people that built the place into the Constitution as well? Because at this point, it doesn’t recognise any group, it only sees Australian Citizens.
Actually two sections describe how laws based on race are allowed. I assume you want go back to the white australia policy to save those oppressed white people who live on average 10 years longer than indigenous peoples.
Yes, I do want the White Australia Policy back, and to extend the life spans of my people, but the matter at hand is having Anglo-Celtic people recognised in the Constitution as the people that built both the civilisation, and the Commonwealth, through great sacrifice, loss of life, and throwing off the imperial tyranny that held us down for so long. Probably want to chuck in a mention that we shared the results with the Aboriginals, when we actually didn’t have to.
Well said. Saves me the bother of saying it myself.
Greg, “…a small minority could afford to take a punt, what did they have to loose?”, please tell what anyone had to loose ( sic) by voting YesVoice.
That is apart from, ‘losing the backyard’, ‘paying to go to the beach’, being ‘taxed extra to pay the rent’ – just a few of the lies that NoVoice campaign pedalled.
Joachim, I know you do think about these posts so,
The first little item we would have lost is any meaningful claim to being a democratic country
The second is being a multicultural country.
The third and most important is freedom from racial discrimination, which is part and parcel of the voice campaign, to discriminate between aboriginals and everyone else..
Cheers, G”)
What Labor couldn’t do “above board” now with ‘The Voice’ looks likely they will now do with legislatation.
But what should happen [post-defeat] is an immediate Audit all the multitude of organizations giving aboriginal services and advice to governments. They are managed by career elites, who don’t direct the huge amounts of taxpayers’ money to where it is really needed’
meanwhile making good personal incomes.
Thus after 47 long years using the previous plan for removing disadvantage out West, it has eventually proved to be a failure.
Albo’s Refo’23 was another big waste of money – it could have been more usefully employed for ‘closing the gap’.
Calls for a new ATSIC is another sign of compounding the wasteful mistakes of the past.
A fresh start is definitely needed.
So price, Mundine, Abbott and rinehart aren’t elites? Dont see them in economy.
Nampijinpa wasn’t before, but she is now. I of course oppose having a Prime Minister that is either a woman, or non-white, but based on her merits, I could probably bring myself to vote for the coalition if her premiership was on the cards. How’s that for unifying?
Scared or racist or stupid and combinations there of. Sad Australia.
Exactly what you just said, is why you lost. By all means, continue.
Correct Christian…unnamed person at the polling booth ..couple leaned over and said
Your are a racist…why she asked ? Because
You are voting No .. case closed !
Just over 60 people voted yes in my town, and they went out of their way not to be identified. The most No town, in the most No electorate, in the most No state, yet the Aboriginals here are perfectly safe, and employed. Act civilised, and we ignore you are non-White.
Too right Barrow !
Stupid ignorant people violating the anonymity of the voting booth, are too brain-damaged to understand the complexities of a yes/no choice.
Cheers, G”)
A friend of a friend of the bloke next door told me … 🤯
Correct Ken ..freedom of choice..
Really? You mean people didn’t vote purely on the merits of the proposal but on how they thought the yes side sounded a bit arrogant? How dumb!
12 yrs ago I caught a bus from Wagga Wagga to Deniliquin and it was half full of indigenous women coming back from the tent Embassy in Canberra. We were talking and they said that sometime soon there would be a political push to change the constitution and it would take their sovereignty and when this time comes please don’t agree to it ‘we need our soverenty and autonomy. So I took that on board and when this ‘Voice’ (not the tv show that I would never vote for) came about I was compelled, as a supporter of indigenous people, not to vote yes. There was no racism, fear, ignorance just personal opinion based on the passion of these women and my democratic right to vote in their favour. There are many sides to all stories and I chose this side.
No doubt the UNDRIP was being discussed at that time since it was adopted in 2007. The playbook of the globalists is much easier to read when one is able to step back from the divisive game of politics where one can see the puppets have the same master with its hands up their backsides.
Well said sir
IF this is all absolutely accurate I don’t know how much it would have to do with the UNDRIP. Any followers of the recent debate would have been aware of the “progressive no” cohort who maintained that the proposed amendment would threaten sovereignty – despite much legal advice to the contrary.
Maybe this was the origin of the concerns of the women on the bus. But let’s not let that stand in the way of concluding that the tent embassy was worried about the UNDRIP. Unlikely?
Taylor. The very stupid and arrogant type of attitude that lost the referendum.
By ‘post-truth’, you mean the public aren’t believing your side’s….I’ll go with ‘nonsense’ to be kind. I’ve been pointing people to the UNDRIP, and they are quite surprised that it seems like the script being used. Quoting verbatim from a UN document published on the UN’s website, is of course ‘conspiracy theorising’, as is pointing out that Rudd signed us up to it. As far as a path forward, the Liberal’s plan is to make Jacinta ‘Empress of the Aboriginals’ after the next election, and let her have at it with her multitude of policies.
As previously mentioned.. it’s irrelevant what the political parties put forward regarding the voice..
In the end everyone has a choice.. they voted No ..
as for Mayo who is this Bloke …and is he Aboriginal
Because he has been asked on numerous occasions
To prove otherwise.. nothing thus far..however
Other’s have confirmed he is infact not Aboriginal
At all…as he suggested after the country voted
No maybe 70/ 30 percent in favour…consequences
Will follow …what does that mean ?
Did he perhaps grow up in Kenya with Barack Obama?
Barrow, give Trump and his ‘birthers’ a call, they’ll be able to prove to you that the Thomas is an Indigenous Australian.
I did. They said he is indigenous to quite a few places outside of Australian territory.
This is Marcia Langton speaking of her grandmother:” The need to produce ID was one reality of the draconian protection era that she and her brothers and sisters grew up in. Every aspect of their young lives was controlled by the government: where they could travel, live and work. Their wages were paid as “pocket money” or withheld by the “board”. They had to seek permission to buy a dress, book a train ticket, attend a funeral. If your “papers” weren’t in order, you’d be picked up by police. My grandmother never stopped having hers ready.
“As a child on the mission, she was given a year’s worth of schooling, delivered at the end of a cane by the stern Anglican manager’s wife. Still a child, she was sent away at 14 to work as a “domestic”. As the cook in a shearer’s camp, she met my grandfather and fled the terrors of that servitude as quickly as she could. They, and later their children, moved constantly to keep ahead of the New South Wales protection board, which could have taken their children, including their youngest, my father. He was a talented footballer and a bright student with a love of numbers, but he had to leave school at 15 to help support his family.”
Professor Langton has called for a week of silence to allow indigenous people to process the result. I’d call it a week of mourning. Is it too much to ask all those so mean spirited, frightened or stupid to vote no to observe her wishes?
Of course it is. Stupid question!
I agree. Anyone who knows anything about Australian history knows that Parliaments have endlessly brought in policies and legislation that have had dreadful effects on Aboriginal and Islander people. A Yes vote could have given them a means of giving feedback on what affected them and only them, and couldn’t be wiped out by the next Coalition government the way ATSIC was. But White Australia was too mean-spirited to allow that – even though other countries, and Victoria, have something similar that has done good things for indigenous people and not disadvantaged the majority at all. But let’s not let facts get in the way of racism and conspiracy theories.
👍
There are already thousands of Aboriginal run (taxpayer funded) organisations that do that at all levels of government. Jacinta is pushing albo for a complete audit of all of them, as corruption in these orgs is the historical norm. She will be the next Minister for Aboriginal stuff, and she can kick some arse, and sort it all out.
To hell with Marcia Langton, her grandmother and the stories of anybody from a hundred years ago this is 2023, wake up !
Do you have any idea how stupid your argument sounds ?
People like you and David Lowe have no concept of democracy, everyone gets a vote and the majority decides.
The stupidity of David’s article and his unwavering bias is quite comical.
“difficult to improve the Constitution of this country. ” if the majority vote against it, it isn’t an improvement.
“Like all vandals, unable to create anything positive, they decided they would destroy the hard work of others. ” how pompous, and
self-rightgeous? the two named aren’t my favourite types but… what you say about them seems more likely to apply to your post-loss inability to accept the will of the people, David.
“The Yes campaign seemed unprepared for this assault.” What ? after decades of unrelenting propaganda and carefully crafted wording of the ‘voice’ to hide the obvious agenda which was even spoken by Lydia and others to enable 3 % of the population to veto democratic government on the basis of the invalid argument of repression of Aboriginals.
The billions wasted on aboriginal projects have been wasted and stolen by aboriginals who couldn’t be trusted with a bent penny.
The pubic have spoken. G”)
Mr Empathy strikes again! It’s fairly clear you don’t give a stuff Ken about the people involved or any sensitivity to the way the result will be interpreted by First Nations people. But a general reluctance to learn some of the history of your own country and understand its implications shows a philistinism that’s all too problematic in pockets of our society. History is bunkum eh?
You’re on their land mate, and your uninformed ocker profiling is pitiful
No people that rely on another people to maintain them, can survive. Take care of your own.
To whom do you refer? I think a group that survived for 65,000 years then survived what was just about planned extermination, have proved themselves to be quite resilient.
Resilient enough to go in two generations from semi slave to a professorial chair. All while many with untold advantages have managed to stay dumb.
Then they don’t need help. My ancestors have a very similar story, and I drive a Porsche around my country estate. They must just not be interested in applying that resilience to obtain material wealth.
They were asking for recognition as the original custodians of the land and an opportunity at greater self determination – not handouts. Despite all the conspiracy theories to the contrary.
I forget the exact size of the initial payout that was in the QLD treat, but it was over $100bn. But that doesn’t matter anymore. We voted No, so the treaty, and the payout, aren’t happening.
Sounds a bargain for a state the size of Queensland but that isn’t the Voice that was the subject of the referendum.
I know your side found challenging, focusing on that.
The voice, treaty, true telling, slippery slope.
A bargain? One way transactions are called theft.
The slippery slope argument is no reason to vote no to such a small request. 97% of the population has more than enough power to stop the process at any stage.
But why would you, the great truth warrior, object to truth telling and other countries have survived treaties.
About the one way transactions – EXACTLY!!!
In the same way that we have to pass a driving test to be authorized to get a driver’s license I suggest a basic comprehension test to enable would be voters to be allowed to vote . An incredibly simple proposition was totally misunderstood or ignored by the majority . Underlying possibly subconscious racism added to the disastrous result . I think it was Plato who suggested the majority of people did not have the mental faculties and probably empathy to be granted a vote . I rest my case .
Just how out of touch is this David Lowe. Wanting the government to legislate another corrupt Indigenous body along the lines of the disbanded, corrupt ATSIC. I don’t have any advice for the government but for David Lowe, I think he should let it back to Canberra where he came from.
Yes, I spoke with many stupid Yes campaign volunteers during the Referendum campaign. None could answer ever the most basic of questions of how this proposed amendment to the Constitution would help “close the gap” for Australian Indigenous citizens. Common answers were; it’s the right thing to do, a gracious offer, it’s for a better tomorrow, an invitation to walk together, it’s an olive branch, a modest change etc. It was like listening to Anthony Albanese –
Well said Mark. For every ignorant NO campaigner there was an ignorant YES campaigner. People in glass houses David. Best we accept this was a sad part of Australian history, on all sides, and move on. What we dont need is more division.
Tiff. The division is in its infancy. We are on the same path as the USA. The left hating the right and the right hating the left. I don’t know if its human nature or a plan.
Plan
I find this rather hard to believe Mark. Having spent quite a bit of time at pre-polling as well as polling day, I would conclude that my fellow campaigners were informed, intelligent people) who could have given you any number of reasons to vote YES.
What you may have found was a reluctance to engage. When committed NO voters wanted to rail me with tales of UN conspiracies, cabals of a few rich and powerful operatives with dire intentions (none of whom they could actually name, so they must be a secret), stolen back yards, apartheid, millions of unexplained deaths etc etc I tended to keep dialogue to a minimum. Despite the assurances that “I love indigenous people”.
I think we saw ourselves as there to show support and interact, if appropriate with the sane and the genuinely open minded.
United Nations Declaration of the Right of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Kevin07 signed us up. Go have read and put 2 + 2 together. It’s on the UN’s official website.
Rights Based Nations Building based on Legal Sovereignty Rights is what people tell me, not another colonized government body, self Governance is a legal right.
We can put pressure on politicians to sign Australia on to the UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples 1514 which 89 counties have voted for, none against, which Australia and 8 other colonial states have abstained from voting on for over 80 years.
Something we can do as white Australians is to take matters into our own hands. We can support Truth Telling by enabling First Nations community people to have their grassroots conversations heard through our independent 5th Estate media platforms and use our people power to not only listen to the people, not clever and manipulative state corpse propoganda.
Using the same tools we can grassroots crowdfund fund First Nations communities to buy back land become self Determined through self Governance as is their internationally recognized right under the 1514 Declaration.
There are many YES voters who could help to fund real change with their spare change, and there are many who voted NO or made informal conscience votes that would also give up spare change to help fund grassroots First Nations communities to strengthen culture and gain independence.
We are the people and we have the power to change. But it will never change if we leave it up to the political elites, as we all know how captured Labor and the LNP are by the industries they are supposed to regulate. Anyone who has fought for Environmental Justice should know this.
If you want to split 3% of the land off for them to create an Aboriginal ethno-state, you have the support of both the far left and right. But if you are trying to mess with the Commonwealth, you will find harsh resistance, as this awake-up call should have made clear.
and not having a go at you David Lowe, I know how much your heart is in defending environment and the rights of First Nations peoples.
Dave Lawrence … You’ve hit the nail on the head. Judging by the tone of most of the above Comment-makers, their attitudes generally speak of spending a lot of time on social media; the destroyer of common sense & good manners and the maker & promoter of ill-conceived arguments.
Yes, Dave. The proposition was simple. But maybe not simple enough for most No voters who chose to listen to mistruths rather than to do their own research. It wasn’t hard to do.
Our objections were very clear and simple, but not simple enough for Yes campaigners to be able to answer some very simply, and quite obvious, questions. So we did our own research, and what do you know, knowledge is power.
Joachim you are so badly blinded by the green lefty ideology you can’t distinguish the difference between your backside and your elbow maaaaate. How do you know what you quoted is not true?. Absolutely no information was given up by Albo pre referendum for any thinking person to make an informed decision. There lies your loss explanation. The other reason is the yes voters were wooed by the vibe rather than the truth, an unfortunate trait of the left. Happy Days ahead if you can just let it go.
Actually you obviously voted no without reading anything( if don’t know vote no wow Ray Martin hit in the head about dinosaurs). I’m sure the solutions will now come from the no camp as there were none in their campaign so get on with it. By the way a Royal commission, really when their have been numerous inquiries and an audit when low and behold what we’re they doing in 10 years of government or have they forgotten?
The problem was the lack of challenging to the likes of price who refused 10 requests to go on 7.30 or on nitv,didn’t want scrutiny?
God Empress Nampijinpa will be made overlord of all things Aboriginal. She is already bugging albo to start implementing her policies before her party even wins the next election. Problems solved.
Well Dutton’s ‘solution’ of a 2nd Referendum has been dumped, after he pledged (2/9/23 on Sky News) –
“When asked if he would hold a referendum in his first term, he replied, “Yes”.
“I believe very strongly it is the right thing to do,” Mr Dutton said.
Wow, a pledge today from the Dutton, just worthless tomorrow. Onya Dutton!
But the Dutton now wants an audit of $’sIndigenous program spendings.
Wow again. He was in Government for nearly 10 years and he was in Cabinet as well, now making out he has no clue about the $’s – 10 years of failing Closing the Gap Reports in his time in government and it is only now that he wants an audit.
Dutton just keeps taking the piss.
Greg, I understand you and your fanatical righty mates have finally had a win on something, the exuberance is easy to see, but you all need to take some relaxing medication, because all you and your kind have done is to derail a referendum, and going on history that is not very hard to do, especially when someone like demolition Dutton, and turncoats like Mundine and Price sell their souls to the highest bidder. Dutton may have won the battle, however given that all the Teal seats that he needs to win back to regain Govt, voted overwhelmingly YES and are very likely to be rather pissed off at his divisive and destabilizing behaviour, are very unlikely to fall for his lies ever again. Any backlash the Labor Govt may or may not suffer will quickly disappear, and at the next election it will be judged on its overall record, and not on the rights or wrongs of holding a referendum, that was an election commitment designed to improve the lives of our First Nations people.
Keith what are you talking about mate ..
Had nothing to to do with Dutton or Price etc.. the majority of the population voted
As they did probably because the above mentioned made lots of sense..hence why the MAJORITY Keith voted No ..more to the point ..Albo should have gone with the Aboriginal People’s included into the constitution and would have romped in ..
Instead he went with a modest change
What a load of crap that statement was !!
He should have in layman’s terms explained to the nation excatly what the voice was going to entail..” treaty . truth telling and reparations ”
Explain every single on of those in detail
To the nation and then the population would have been informed about what the
Voice was all about ..but he did not did he Keith ? However Price & Co did ..hence the
Overwhelming response from the nation
To vote No ..once again hopefully better policies put forward for Aboriginal people’s
Will provide outcomes alot better than whats
Currently in place ..been a disaster..
Keith. The attitude you display is one of the reasons the referendum was lost. Pat yourself on the back. It must hurt like hell to know Albanese blew 450million bucks turning 60% support into 39% support.
David, you haven’t improved much, it wasn’t Albo who ran the YES campaign, the Govt only supported it, and remember demolition Dutton and the hopeless Nationals voted for the referendum, as for the 450 million, we have saved a hell of a lot more than that after exposing and putting to an end to much of the rorting by the previous corrupt Lib/Nat Govt.
Albo didn’t run the yes campaign but it was his referendum.
Slow down KEITH, I’m getting dizzy from all the spin. Straight back into party politics as if we the people don’t even exist. But don’t let me stop you cope-posting, it’s cheaper than a therapist.
Keith. Your Jacinta Price turncoat sell her soul to the highest bidder comment is as juvenile and pathetic as some of the comments about Albo from the small lunatic No fringe. Maybe you have a problem with strong, intelligent women of conviction or maybe just conservative women.
Gee wiz David, if that’s the best you’ve got, it’s little wonder your corrupt and divisive mob is no longer in Govt.
Keith. We’ve been here before. I don’t have a mob. Your political blindness just cant accept that.
Greg, you must be right.
First Nations People have been coming for our backyards since Mabo, I’m guessing your backyard must be one of the few that hasn’t yet been taken back by First Nations People.
Greg, stay strong and defend your backyard from any land grabbing, yeah.
What do you think the word ‘sovereignty’ means exactly?
It shows that Australia knew it had been right at the 1967 referendum, and the constitution still needed to not discriminate on the basis of race
If the Albo government will be judged on it’s record at the next federal election, happy days. A shipload of bad judgement to be judged and a shiptonne of lies to be examined. Coalition looking OK. By the way, anyone that denigrates Price and Mundine has as much nouse as Albo, literally none. Comments like that loose elections. The teals are nothing, represent nothing, never will be anything, however the greens are hunting down labor seats, so don’t speak too soon.
A very predictable righty reply Greg, but sadly for you it only reinforces what we already know, the loony right still has absolutely no idea why it lost the last election so badly. They don’t realise that if they cannot win those Teal seats back they have virtually no chance of regaining Govt, and on their past performance, neither should they; and by the way anybody that believed the bullshit Dutton, Mundine and Price were peddling, is either to stupid or just doesn’t want to. And we will handle the Greens as we always do.
Dutton was a major player in the last LNP government that have left Australia and Australians adrift, divided and vastly in debt. How on earth did they increase national debt from $250 million to over $1000 million in just 13 years?? And don’t blame Covid, they’d racked it way up before that, and proceeded to give vast amounts to their business and mining mates who didn’t need it and certainly didn’t use it for the good of the people, for example Qantas which promptly sacked the staff it was meant to protect! Now our airlines are in chaos.
How anyone could vot LNP after that sh*tshow is a tribute to wilful ignorance and the appalling billionaires of the right wing press.
“Dutton was a major player in the last LNP government…”, well he might have been in Cabinet but it looks like he just sat at the table and didn’t absorb a thing as he dozed away in his chair. Ken Wyatt twice taking proposals to Cabinet on a proposed ‘Voice’, The Calma Langton Indigenous Voice Co-design Report , poor old dozing Dutton totally clueless on matters relating to ‘Voice’
Good on you Keith, I agree with you.
David’s negative rant about our majority decision not to incorporate a racist prejudice into the constitution, starts with the bifurcation fallacy of supposing two possibilities, things remain bad, or worse. Consequently, I paid little attention to the rest of his argument .
When Edison failed 700 times to find a lightbulb filament that wouldn’t burn out, his assistant suggested they give up.
Edison responded that they’d found 700 things that don’t work, so let’s keep trying.
Wow, the corrupted media has done it again. A completely stage managed No campaign where the two puppets Mundine and Price, refused point blank to appear before any real journalists to answer any real questions, “No matter how many times they were asked”, it was just never reported anywhere, as usual. Just make up any lie, any accusation, no matter how ridiculous and the media repeats it 24/7 until the gormless fools, hear it in their sleep and believe every word out it. The result of this referendum is so ridiculous, don’t be surprised if Morrison even thinks he has another chance at leading the Lieberals at the next election, because everyone already knows Dutton won’t be! Just make up big lies and repeat, Joseph Goebbels would be in awe of what the usual media suspects used in this No campaign! This wasn’t a referendum, it was an IQ test and if you were so completely fooled by nothing more than the orchestrated contrived lies into voting No, YOU FAILED!
Senate question time yesterday, in a response to how much money was spent on the referendum. The previous Morrison LNP Govt allocated $200 million toward this referendum, allocated by then LNP Govt finance minister Simon Birmingham. Not once has the media called out Dutton to account for obstructing his own LNP party’s voice policy referendum and wasting $200 million of taxpayers money. He actually ridiculously promised another LNP Voice referendum when he trashes this present LNP one from his previous leader Morrison? Of course Dutton is now denying he promised another referendum, that the media is also silent on that as well?
Tweed. The attitude you display is one reason support fell from 60% to 39%. Pat yourself on the back.
No David wrong again, the support didn’t fall from 60% to 40% because of the attitude of people like Mr Tweed, it fell because of the attitude of people like you, who are so politically blinded they believe any right wing propaganda people like Dutton, Price and Mundine peddle.
Keith. One day you might be able to put your frustration and anger aside and accept elements of the Yes campaign are in part responsible for the defeat. My opinion would be 50% responsible. Your inability to see anything from the middle ground would have you believe I voted no.
David I couldn’t give a rats how you voted, angry righty people like you are never going to change, you really do need to get over the severe disappointment of seeing your precious corrupt Conservative Govt booted from office, only then, one day you just may see the light.
You could start a cinema with that level of projection!
Keith, nice that you mention the Warren Mundine.
Warren Mundine, this is the fellow who was a one time advisor to the Federal Coalition Government, in his appointed role to the Indigenous Advisory Council.
One has to wonder what was going on behind the scenes with Closing the Gap when Warren Mundine was right in the middle of affairs; either he was giving bad advice to Government or the Government just didn’t bother listening to his…. ‘Voice’. Either way the result is there for all to see, Closing the Gap that isn’t closing.
And good old Dutton, when he was in Cabinet receiving Ken Wyatt’s submissions, The Calma Langton Voice Co-Design Report, now just clueless with everything relating to ‘Voice’ and he infects 60% of Aussies with his cluelessness.
Mundine took a severe turn to the right a while ago after he was ALP President, he is now the chairman on the board of a mining company and I think he owns a substantial part of it. Price is something of a mystery, for some reason has always been very right leaning, she has had a long connection with the Sydney Institute, largely funded by the richest person in Australia, amongst others. Most of the Aboriginal land councils will have nothing to do with her, claiming that she does not represent them, and all she ever wants to do is play politics.
Mundine is quite the sob story about Aboriginals not being able to get anywhere in our society. Price is a mystery for being right-wing? Because Aboriginal genetics makes you left-wing? I just thought she was sick of leftist policies harming her people.
I just don’t get it Echo! It’s fine to print that “aboriginals(sic) who couldn’t be trusted with a bent penny” but the word “yobbo” is a bride too far. Thankfully the referendum is over!
Don’t knock the sat-tue moderator. They are close enough to perfect and balanced, that even you should be satisfied. Even I don’t argue with them on calls I don’t like, which should win them some sort of media award.
A very sad sign of the decline of the democratic process and rose of the manipulation of the press and vested interests. Thank you scribe Lowe, an excellent article.
I love a timid country
A land of scare campaigns
Where mindless bogan slogans
Just overtake our brains
The stunted, short horizons
Of those who will not see
Who, presented with alternatives
Think only: me, me, me.
Author unknown but deserves accolades. And to those nay sayers who are on the attack – if you’re so sure you’re right, why are you still on the attack? Sad.
Wanderer, good piece that you provided.
At least the 40% YesVoicers, that included some 70% of First Nations People in remote areas – the ones that YesVoice was to assist – didn’t fall the NoVoicer lies and rubbish.
With the YesVoice being voted down, there is work to be done on the ‘Don’t Know’ crowd, to learn them up on Indigenous matters.
Joachim, are you sitting straight on the nest maaate? What the hell has my backyard got to do with anything?.
“….and a shiptonne of lies to be examined.”, who wrote that I wonder?
Greg, you must be suffering memory loss about the NoVoice campaign lies….the lie about the backyard was gone if YesVoice got up.
But happily for you, at least for now, your backyard looks safe from any land grabbing by First Nations People.
As long as we keep on keeping First Nations People right where they are, then we can all sleep safe and sound each night, yeah.
Who said it? The only time I heard it was from lefties on here.
Christian, look a bit further up the page – Greg, October 17, 2023 at 7.08 am
Greg now one of the lefties, lol.
I must admit, I don’t listen to Greg’s podcast, and I didn’t receive any of the pamphlets he sent out. I presumed he was just quoting the UN documents about the all over agenda. Ill raise the issue with him at the next meeting.
EXACTLY Greg. Didn’t stop the gullible from carrying on about it. Good on you on if you didn’t fall for it.
Disinformation reflects direct manipulation …misinformation implies a ‘possible’ mistake. Thus it is possible to view how the vital issue of The Voice (Yes/No) vote was whittled down to Duttons campaign for the next election. Jacinta Price and Warren Mundine were prepared to play ‘the patsy” roles…thus aiding the Coalition and dominant Mining Merchants who have huge investments in controlling the populations in Australia. The road to hell awaits.
Jo. Your “patsy’ comment was stupid and ignorant . That attitude is one of the reasons Yes lost. I didn’t think you would go that low.
Jo is spot on , Dutton was treating it like an election campaign , pathetic usual scare campaign from the Liberals, ( nothing Positive to contribute ) anyone who believes otherwise is delusional , If you are stupid enough to believe this Liberal scare campaign , who knows what you will fall for next ?
This should have been above politics , why don’t you ask Ken Wyatt why he quite the Liberals in March this year , talk to Julian Leeser and he makes sense , a Liberal who talks common sense, Let the curse begin, We are on the land of the oldest original culture , 70 000 years , We are custodians of this land , We do not own this land . Good Luck to you ALL , You WILL need it………………….
Peter FYI knowone owns any lands in this Country
“We belong to it ” as many Aboriginal people’s
Have said..!
Peter, whom are the delusional?. Do you believe 61% of the Aussie population have been conned?. Better take a look at yourself maaaate.
Peter. One day when your frustration and anger subsides you may accept the Yes campaign is as much to blame as the No campaign for this outcome.
David very true indeed..however put aside the political debate and spin..and the Voice by media..
The Nation voted..as it did in the SSM plebiscite
Not to many complaints about that outcome !
It wasn’t made quite the same political football – just a few suggestions about bestiality and polygamy.
Similar numbers voted NO to the republic and now we’ve got Charles and Camilla to swear allegiance to. I wonder if we’ll catch up to the 21st century before it ends?
If I live long enough to have great grandchildren I’ll be able to tell them I voted YES to all three. My grandchildren are already impressed.
Children are also impressed if you can burp on command.
You don’t know how smart my grandchildren are!
Yes I do. Smart enough to know that if you humour your grandparents, they give you free stuff.
And they use most of that time on the Nintendo Switch I bought them as soon as they could recite Das Kapital.
All Australian children should have to study Daas Capital. We have the box set. My favourite is Tim.
Smart enough to know I give them lots of stuff regardless, but I heard of the YES advocacy 2nd hand.
When I asked, genuinely curious, what made them think that way one answered that he wondered what all the yes/no stuff was about so asked some questions. He said he listened to what each side was about and decided he thought YES was right.
Why? “Because they were here first and we stole their land, and all they want is to have some say before things are decided about them. It’s not a lot to ask!”
I know that’s not all that smart but simple enough for a nine-year-old to understand! He’s done his own research but their parents do limit their screen time and they find much more exciting things than X, Tik Tok etc
For you: youtube: ‘Gene Wars: r/K Selection Theory | CLASSIFIED MATERIAL [P3]’
For the kids, my daughter’s favourite series: youtube: ‘Learn French for Kids – Numbers, Colors & More – Rock ‘N Learn’
Thanks for that Christian. I don’t quite understand the relevance of the Gene wars stuff to our little thread here but it was VERY ENLIGHTENING – VERY ENLIGHTENING. It left me with some questions though. In the r/k dichotomy theory, on which sides do compassion versus ruthlessness sit and empathy versus psychopathy? And are the super Aryans r or k?
Call me pedantic but I really don’t think the antonym for “risk prone” is “risk ADVERSE”.
I love the sound of your daughter’s favourite YouTube channel. Research – real research under test conditions with supporting data and peer review – suggest that we are hard wired to learn language from 1-5, and certainly best before puberty. Also that exposure to more than one language is excellent for cognitive development.
It’s perhaps why so many kids of migrants blitz the year 12 results.
I don’t think my grandkids could be persuaded unfortunately. They’re too busy learning to be super competitive, reflex skilled and strategic with video games. They thankfully learn Japanese at school though.
That should actually be 0-5 🤦🏻♂️
*facepalm*
We were talking about our descendants, and the way they act. Seemed more civilised than using critical theory to deconstruct your relationship with your grandchild, as was starting to occur. He who uses evil, shall become evil.
You thought I was serious about Das Kapital? Seriously?
But speaking of seriously, I thought we were talking about the referendum. I was noting how a nine-year-old, unencumbered by all the diversions of the no campaign, could understand what eluded so many of voting age. I can’t take any credit for his conclusions.
But I’m evil now am I? You do tend to get extreme ( and rather righteous) in your language when in a corner. How about enlightening me on the questions I asked you and tell me whether we should be steering our young ones to be “r”s or “k”s.
I was serious about ‘DAAS Kapital’. I’ll explain the book to her also.
Nine-year-olds are taught at school that White People are evil colonial oppressors, so I’m not surprised she would come to the conclusion she was led to. It’s not for me to determine if you are evil, or merely an instrumentality there of. I was referring to moderating my own behaviour. As for your R-K question, it was debated in Alt-Right circles for years. That’s far too much listening for you to handle. I’m raising mine for quality over quantity of offspring, but not to have an aversion to quantity if resources are available, as long as standards are met. Given how super her Mum is, I’m sure she can crank out a bunch of goodens.
Resorting to tangents, condescension and pomposity when some simple answers were called for.
As for the conclusion being the result of indoctrination, I can’t fault either its veracity or reasoning. It might just be right.
The world is not a cartoon. Simple answers are the domain of religion and boomers who grew up watching John Wayne movies. The correct question would be to ask which family structure I am raising her to see as optimal. That question is also rather relevant to the referendum, Aboriginals success/ failure, and most things discussed on the Echo. youtube: ‘How Family Structure Drives Ideology’
More of the same – hiding behind insults, pomposity and “you wouldn’t understand it!” or “you asked the wrong question” ‼️It’s not very convincing. I don’t care about your personal domestic circumstances.
Baiting and feign naïveté, solicits noncooperation. Facetiousness to the facetious.
Peter need for the reminder? Nothing positive to contribute from Dutton & Price ..truth hurts
Sometimes mate..hence the result..zero truth
For Albo who was asked on numerous occasions
To explain more of what the voice proposal was about..
Significant sections of the No vote wont be voting for Dutton/Price/Mundine (the Blak Soverign Movement, the white Sovereign Citizens Movement, the Ant Vaxs/anti World Health Org., nor will a section of the ‘I dont knows’) but the far right and dedicated racists will be mistakenly emboldened by the result, so we’ll need to watch out for them. The predominantly black booths in Prices electorate were overwhelmingly Yes . The most influential ‘No’ campaign lobby is hiding in virtual offices and behind fake addresses. – https://michaelwest.com.au/advance-australia-unfair-why-is-the-no-campaign-people-so-afraid-to-be-found/. Silver lining of the Referendum – largest ever white vollunteer crew working on an Aboriginal issue, the positive 40% yes will be joined by a significant section of the no voters, who are supportive of addressing Aboriginal issues, while not supporting the Referendum for a variety of other issues. The emboldened nay sayers have only won a skirmish, but now an even a broader section of the population, including a large section of the No voters, are focused on addressing the issues, including leading to addressing the very heart of the issue – Europeans sticking a flag on a beach and hilariously claiming the entire continent is thus then owned by themselves
Well written John, the “Advance Australia” movement is not going away, and indeed does need watching very closely, another American political import by the look of it.
And who should be one of the advisers to Advance Australia -.Tony Abbott, notorious for his telling lies.
As opposed to when an Aboriginal stuck a spear in the dirt and claimed the entire continent? What gave them the right to permanently bar all others from this land, and claim sole sovereignty for all time? They aren’t native to Australia, and they didn’t build the place
I don’t think they did that Christian.
John + Lazarus could you please entertain
us all and provide us with your version of a Far
Right individual ? My version is anyone
Slightly conservative.. !
Barrow, we are wasting our time trying to deal with the irrational. Time to let it go, move on. I have never witnessed the comprehensively defeated in such extreme denial as I am seeing now. Better times ahead hopefully.
Greg everyone is entitled to one’s opinion..
“Those are my opinions above if they dont like those i have others “
Well said.
I spent 2 weeks at pre polling and election day for the Yes vote, I have never seen such aggression, abuse and open racism in decades of volunteering. It was frightening, we had female and male volunteers that were terrified of the No voters and volunteers and refused to attend some of the more aggressive booths. I attempted to ring talkback radio to state some actual real facts and was refused and hung up on. I attempted to write comments in newspapers and was also refused. The problem is our media, point blank. Its is the owners and editors that decide what we are permitted to see and hear. Until we have a balanced honest media publishing real facts and only, not this contrived nonsense from the LNP/Usual Media Suspects, this is the corrupted result we can always expect. I and most other informed people knew this Referendum was lost months ago, the media destroyed any chance it could of had!
Well apart from your guys needing a safe space when your opposition shows the same level of passion as yourselves, I would agree that the media needs to be more representative, particularly social media. They all censor to push a bias, when they should provide space for the ‘free market of ideas’.
Yes, even editors have biases.
Hardly surprising. They’re human after all.
Everybody has a world-view. And when worlds collide, sparks fly and you don’t get published.
Tweed. You forgot to mention there was disgusting and bad behavior on both sides. Your angry and frustrated attitude may have attracted some of the behavior to you. When your anger and frustration eventually subsides , you might accept the Yes campaign is part to blame for the failure.
I can understand your attack on Jacinta Price. How dare a conservative woman attain rock star status while the Yes campaign women didn’t do well.
The fat lady has sung , the no vote won . Time to accept the result and move on. So tired of hearing the whinging and moaning.
In your dreams – I’m maintaining my rage.
I also watch Rage on the ABC as well
Lizardbreath and will maintain doing so 👌
Hate it! Glad you’re a Hogans Heroes fan though.
Well it is a racist show.
It is the threat that never ends.
It just goes on and on and on.
I thought it might have stopped about a week ago.
Turned out the moderator had just gotten slow.
Cause it’s the thread that never ends….