How a plan to recognize Australia's indigenous people became the country's latest culture war
How a plan to recognize Australia's indigenous people became the country's latest culture war
A landmark referendum backed by the government would give Indigenous people constitutional recognition and greater say on legislation and policy affecting them.
A landmark referendum backed by the government would give Indigenous people constitutional recognition and greater say on legislation and policy affecting them.
You're viewing a single thread.
I'm not a fan of explicit institutional racism, even if it's done with good intentions.
We tried the "certain people recognized by the government have exceptional powers granted along hereditary lines" thing, and everyone for a while agreed it wasn't the best.
Fuck you
Imagine equating an oppressed minority finally getting a modicum of power to a goddamn hereditary monarchy
You are not clever, Nazi fuck.
You're calling for special privileges based on race and I'm the Nazi for being against it?
Ok.
Yep. Glad you understand.
Run into a burning building and stay there please.
The 'exceptional power' is just guaranteed consultation for an independent and permanent advisory body representing Indigenous Australians. That's it. They don't even have to do what they say, they just have to ask.
The Voice isn't about granting "exceptional powers granted along hereditary lines". The proposed constitutional amendment would create a body that can make representations to Parliament - that's it. The Voice would not have the power to manage money, deliver services or create legislation. It is simply a means for platforming issues affecting Indigenous communities directly to Parliament. In fact, a lot of people aren't happy with the proposed amendment because they're worried all of the Voice's representations will simply be ignored by Parliament.
The general idea here is that peoples Indigenous to the land were colonised and subject to a system of government and law completely foreign to their traditional way of life. The Voice provides a means for people living in remote, traditional communities to express their perspective, needs and concerns through a forum that is compatible to their way of life.
Think about how difficult it would be for someone raised in these communities to get Parliament to acknowledge their perspective otherwise - to move away from their community, get an advanced university degree in politics or law and table legislation to protect their interests.
That's... a bizarre take. Aboriginal Australians didn't get the vote until the 1960s.
The Voice is only to let Indigenous people have a mechanism for consultation since they are so heavily outnumbered that the Australian electoral system is essentially a "tyranny of the majority".
Aboriginal and Torres straits Australians have measurably worse outcomes in health, wealth, education, crime, life expectancy, etc. That is institutional racism.