With respect to John Lazarus’ response to ‘No’ voters (Letters December 27, 2023), I feel that he has made several misjudgements in relation to many if not most, ‘No’ voters.
Firstly, his comment in the process and result, Australian voters have a strong history of careful assessment of referendum proposals and in the absence of bipartisan support, have a nose for critical review of the proposal.
Hence the process and the result are no real surprise to the 60 per cent of ‘No’ voters.
As regards the Uluru Statement from the Heart, whilst it may well have been a genuine attempt by some First Nations people, as we discovered during the course of the referendum, it was not necessarily representative of all First Nations people, particularly those living in regional, rural or remote areas.
Currently in an Australian democracy, all people have the right to press for change to referendum proposals, then have the right to accept or reject that proposal.
The majority response to the referendum was effectively that most parts of the Uluru Statement from the Heart should have been referred to parliament for discussion and later legislation, if accepted.
The format of the referendum effectively prevented, probably much more than your 75 per cent estimate, from bringing an amendment to our Constitution.
What was actually proposed was a blank cheque to be given to the prime minister and the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Quite frankly, I would not trust any PM or organisation to be given this power over my Constitution and it would appear that the majority of voters had similar ideas.
And never forget, the prime minister’s first foray into Indigenous matters after his election was to open the floodgates of taxpayer grog to rural, regional and remote areas, creating devastating results in areas such as Alice Springs.
Having been dragged to view the results of his ill-advised pronouncements, his feet barely touched the ground before an Air Albo plane whisked him to the AO tennis tournament.
A blank cheque, no way.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
