I hope you do not have David Marr's burden - blood on the hands of forbears engaged in the "dispersal" of the original inhabitants of this land.

With David Marr has put a bullet through the righteousness of guilt- hiding.

If the Voice gets up one of the jarring aspects will be the emboldening of resource veto attempts. With the multibillion dollar Scarborough gas field 375 km offshore one person seemingly not of the hunter gatherer type has stopped further exploration. Seismic testing will apparently ruin the song lines of the whales. The Eyre Peninsula nuclear waste facility had the approval of most people who actually lived nearby and so far $86m has been spent on it. Now cancelled because spirits apparently inhabit the area.

It wouldn't be so bad if the protagonists took a large funding cut in recognition of their demands. As it is they want more money the same time as preventing wealth creation. If the Voice succeeds that will be just the beginning.

Just vote.

Not necessarily, but I'll hold judgement until voting day.
Alan B.

Who gives a toss..don’t vote, reality is, you’re not invited to the circus, the result is a foregone conclusion.

The AEC has ticked off voting in multiple booths as acceptable, (it’s actually illegal), but not on this great occasion apparently, so I read in a foreign news outlet which covers some Au news events.

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Dear Viv (the author),

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You wrote :

« I will be voting “NO” »
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Well, if you do, Viv, that will make it one all.

I just voted YES at the Australian embassy here in Paris.

To tell you the truth, Viv, even if you don’t vote, I’m afraid it won’t make any difference. The failure rate of referendums to modify our old colonial Constitution is 82%. The YES vote is a real outsider, a long shot with only an 18% chance of pulling it off. So, I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.

You can go fishing or whatever.

In fact, this historic referendum has a greater handicap than all the previous ones that failed. As I'm sure you are aware, most people interviewed by the media say they don’t know what it’s all about. They don’t understand it. Many say they didn’t even know they had to vote.

The general opinion seems to be that it’s probably just another hand-out to our already far too generously subsidised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander “bludgers”, “profiteers” and the like.

The brevity of the referendum question without the slightest explication is hardly conducive to a positive reply. There is an evident lack of relevant information and easily comprehensible explication for people to be able to make an informed decision that is pertinent to the issue at hand.

Our natural reaction to that, of course, is, as usual, to put the blame on the government, but the government's hands are tied when it comes to national referendums to change the Constitution. Part 11 (4) of the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984, prohibits the government from spending public money in favour of, or against, the referendum proposal.

What the law does require is for the government to fund neutral civics education and awareness programs on the Voice to Parliament. These programs are required by law to remain neutral and may not promote one campaign over another.

Nothing we can do about that, I'm afraid, so :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY2IpSCV-Nk&ab_channel=PolinaFig%C5%82owska

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