Why I’m not convinced by The Voice – and I’ll vote YES

On 14 October Australians will be asked to vote on a referendum to change the Constitution to include an indigenous council – the Voice – which will advise the national government on things that affect indigenous people, specifically. It’s probably the major political issue making Australians red in the face right now.

Those pushing for a YES vote (the YES case) say it’s a way of recognising that indigenous people were here first – 60,000 years worth of first. They say that the Voice will make sure that government listens to indigenous people and consults with them before it does stuff to ‘help’ them. They point to good things that have happened because government has listened. Finally, they say, we’ll be able to close ‘the gap’ – the big difference in life expectancy, health outcomes, educational achievement, etc etc – between indigenous and other Australians.

The NO case don’t believe this (and neither do I). They point out, anyway, that plenty of indigenous people live perfectly ordinary lives on the coastal fringe like everybody else, and that ‘the gap’ mostly affects the relatively few people living in remote or outback communities. Where, admittedly, horrible shit seems to go on.

We’d all agree that good things happen when governments listen. So I’d ask, why don’t they just listen now then? Why change the constitution? Because, they say, once in the constitution the Voice can’t be got rid of. Governments of all persuasions will HAVE to listen. But that’s just the problem, say the NO case. They’ll be sticking their noses into every damn thing! Don’t get your knickers in a twist, say the YES case, it’s just another advisory group. The government already has hundreds – even some on indigenous affairs (I rest my case).

So then, I wonder, why should the government of the day necessarily listen to the Voice any more than it listens to any other advisory group? Sure, it can’t get rid of it, but it can ignore it. Either the Voice is going to be especially influential, or it isn’t – you can’t have it both ways. (If we really want the Voice to be influential, we should give it a couple of big mines and call it BHP. Or a stash of brown paper bribe bags and VIP tickets to major sporting events).

Then – say the NO case – this referendum will enshrine race in the Constitution. Specifically, you’re going to have to be indigenous to be on this Voice thingo. But race is already in the Constitution, say YES – ‘the government shall have power to make laws for any race’. Any race, sure, but this is going to specify a particular race – Aboriginals – and that’s new. Just how Aboriginal you’re going to have to be, to be on the Voice, is an interesting question – increasingly so, since indigenous and non-indigenous people continue to recklessly intermingle to the extent that eventually it’s going to be hard to tell one from the other. Half? A fifth? A tenth?

But anyway, I’m going to vote YES. Because indigenous people got together at Uluru and asked for it, because they think it’ll make a difference (whatever I think), and because us more recent immigrants into Australia owe them a small leap of faith. We took their country and it really is a pretty special one. We’re not going to give it back, we’re not going to pay rent, we’re not going to ‘cede’ sovereignty. Indigenous people lost that battle two hundred and fifty years ago and to pretend they didn’t is almost as meaningless as trying to kick out the Norman conquest. That match is over.

But voting YES to the Voice is the least I feel we can do, so I will.