Personally, I'm over it. Just announce a date already and get on with it. If it passes, so be it. If it fails then STFU and move on to issues that are more substantive to Australia's future.

But constantly drawing it out in the hope that the people will come to their senses and rush to do as their 'betters' have decreed is both divisive and unnecessary. Most have made up their mind. Those who haven't aren't about to get new information that will suddenly enlighten them. They've been inundated with argument and counter-argument for most of the year and another month or two of he said-she said-xi said(?) isn't gunna make an iota of difference.

I've made my decision. There was a chance in the past that the other side could have made commitments that might have allowed me to vote differently, but that time has passed and those commitments won't be forthcoming. Consequently, I'm turning off and reading up on more substantive issues - the collapse of the Chinese economy; the collapse of the Chinese demography; the potential slaughter of the $Aust; the potential coming recession; the last chance to save the US democracy.
Window-dressing around giving a few aboriginal leaders an outsized say in the running of the nation is small potatoes by comparison.

The treaty at the heart of Uluru.
That heart is a stone !

If it fails at the referendum then it will be legislated in one form or another.

I think the exercise has been great in getting people to discuss Indigenous affairs and dramatically raise an understanding of what is in our Constitution. The argument from the No side has shifted as that awareness has grown for instance you see far less talk about this 'introducing race' into the Constitution.

It will certainly strengthen the push for treaty but probably mute the discussion around truth telling.

I think the younger generation will look on boomers and the like quite differently after this, and quite rightly. Respect for that generation is already suffering but this will deepen that divide.

It is the younger generation, those who want to progress this nation, who will set about righting past wrongs and do so in an empathetic way that acknowledges the past.

They understand, almost instinctively, that voting Yes is the decent thing to do. I'm looking forward to seeing how they respond if the Voice does not get up.

They certainly won't be disengaging on matters which speak to the soul of the nation.

Hi SteeleRedux,

"They understand, almost instinctively, that voting Yes is the decent thing to do."
- that's because they're young and hopeful, but ignorant of how the world really works, maybe they should 'respect the elders'.

I don't like this idea of voting based on 'emotion'
- Voting 'Yes' - because it's the 'decent' thing to do.

I think that might be as foolish as simply voting 'no' because one is actually racist against black people.

For me, 'decent' has nothing to do with anything.
It's more about voting on merit for the right new policy.
- There's no point changing the current policy, unless we are changing it to the 'right' policy, and that policy must be the 'right' policy, because otherwise there would be no point changing it.

Not change just for the sake of change, even if some changes are needed.

It wouldn't be right to go to a 'Yes or No question' based on emotion.
It's a 2-horse race, like calling up an electrical retailer and offering a a price 30% under the ticket price, 'Yes or No?'...

I think the policy change needs more time, clarity, transparency, fine-tuning.
It needs to be the right policy for our nation going forward.

I mean I have people telling me it's all a land grab by Klaus Schwab using the indigenous as scapegoats, and the woman...
[should I assume she's a woman? ...who knows anymore in this crazy country and it's backwards politically correct expectations]
- behind statement for the heart worked at the UN.

So for me there's a lot of things with question marks over it.
Is this really the best system moving forward, or are we all (indigenous and non-indigenous) being herded towards someone else's idea of the best 'global system' that suits the people with all the money and power and who run it?

I'm going to vote No, but that doesn't mean I'm unwilling to accept things that try to give indigenous a more fairer go, but they already get many benefits and they've got to want to help themselves as well.

Dear Armchair Critic,

You state: “For me, 'decent' has nothing to do with anything.”

For me it is indecent that in a rich country like ours trachoma is still endemic in some Indigenous communities.

For me it is indecent that in a rich country like ours we can have Indigenous Australians living 20 to a 3 bedroom home.

For me it is indecent that in a rich country like ours we can have the leader of our country put troops on the ground in over 70 Indigenous communities with zero consultation.

For me it is indecent that Indigenous kids are more likely to go to prison than to university.

These are facts.

I know what is decent and indecent and so should you.

You say: “I think the policy change needs more time, clarity, transparency, fine-tuning.”

That is what the parliament is for. The referendum question forms the basis to move forward on this. It will be up to parliament as to what form it takes.

It is a simple proposition. Should Indigenous Australians get to input into decisions which effect them such as the Intervention or not? The Constitution's race laws demand that they should.

SR,

Now you are trying to be tricky. You are the one pushing the line that even 1/1000th of a race entitles you to the heritage of that race yet denies the Jews any right to their 4000-year-old heritage. A clear sign of your deep-rooted racism.

Secondly misquoting me is deceitful. I said "As for the "voice" itself, the planned question is so vague that the voice could vary between being innocuous as a lobby group or as pernicious as a veto at every level of government in every state."

Something you don't have any grounds to deny.

The only good thing about this referendum is that its failure will damage labor and Albozo.