Letters to the Editor

While there is so much heartfelt energy surrounding the Voice referendum campaign, it seems to be another missed opportunity for healing and unification for all Australians. For an example of such unification I recently heard the sublime music, For the Beauty of the Earth, sung so beautifully by the Gondwana Aboriginal children’s choir. Englishman John Rutter wrote this song about the love for nature and it is the universality of such music which reaches our hearts.

While the politically outraged wrestle over the fringe details, the genuine healers get on with everyday activities undeterred by the skin tone, politics and ancestry of their collaborators.

There are very strong antagonisms being aroused over the Voice, and for what? Is this a case of a small number of ‘stirrers’ with a grievance who have captured their five minutes of fame to the distress of the majority who want mutual respect among all Aussies in spite of any past injustices and hurt? Or is the Voice just another example of spiteful “gotcha” politics, because observation indicates that the voting intention is clearly Yes from those inclined to the left, and No from the conservative voters.

US Chief Justice John Roberts, in 2017 argued: “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” (Weekend Australian, July 29-30).

Aboriginal people who have not succumbed entirely to the current dominance of western rationalist thinking can be profoundly connected to nature, understanding it to be the true master of our destiny. To change the world to be a place of more peace and less pain, we need more people living in harmony with creation rather than the usual distorted and tormented paths that we are prone to taking.

Mike D Larkin,

Tatong

We’ve got to give it a chance

Bridget Archer, Liberal MHR for the Tasmanian seat of Bass, had this to say about the forthcoming referendum: “No, the Voice won’t have veto power or act as a third chamber … To claim otherwise is a deliberate and harmful misrepresentation of the facts, and I’m disappointed to have seen this wilfully perpetuated by some … Nor does the argument that this referendum is dividing the country by race makes any sense“.

Julie Bishop, former federal deputy Liberal leader for 11 years and Foreign Affairs Minister, recently had this to say: “I sat through too many of those Closing the Gap speeches in parliament to sense that what we were doing was working to close the disparity and inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations”.

In some instances, the key measures were getting worse, not better, so it’s not a question of money, it’s not a question of politicians coming up with policies, it’s a question of giving Indigenous people the franchise to make decisions to implement policies that will work. We’ve got to give it a chance.

Ken Wyatt, former minister for Indigenous Australians in the Morrison government, agrees with Ms Bishop arguing that there is ‘a futility syndrome’ among Indigenous young people, who feel despair that they have no future in the nation because they are never listened to.

Wyatt says, “And what do you do, if you are not listened to? You rebel”.

Sir Robert Menzies, Australia’s longest-serving Prime Minister and founder of the Liberal Party in the 1940s, said this in his famous ‘forgotten people’ speech to the then growing middle class in Australia: “The art of politics is to convey ideas to others, if possible, to persuade a majority to agree, to create or encourage a public opinion so soundly based that it endures, and is not blown aside by chance winds”.

One can only but ponder what Sir Robert would think about the current federal Liberal leader’s stance on the Voice to parliament referendum for another ‘forgotten people’.

Vincent Branigan OAM,

Benalla

Are things better?

Are things in Victoria, and indeed Australia, better than before — I think not. Just look around at the anger and the division that the Voice referendum has caused. Daniel Andrews has refused to be involved in the investigation into the Victorian Government’s Commonwealth Games commitment, and has refused to tell the Victorian people how much the withdrawal will cost and further to that, how he came to decide that the cost of holding the games had blown out to $6-7 billion.

Look at the industry that is struggling to survive. Look at the rental markets, and housing shortages. Section of paper mills is Gippsland closing down because Mr Andrews has stopped the farming of timber in Victoria (apart from plantations). This is madness. Timber is a renewable resource. My father-in-law worked at the mills in Noojee and Powell Town after World War II, and there are still plenty of trees in the area.

I was overjoyed to read in a Sunday paper that a Liberal government in Victoria, if elected, would scrap the legislation that has been enacted to ban the installation of new gas appliances in Victorian (new builds) from January next year. This is great news for Victorians with the growing cost-of-living crisis. It will save an industry and jobs, and give home owners a choice of what energy they choose to use.

Gas reserves in Victoria are abundant and we should be using it to benefit ourselves. Gas hot water, boosted by solar, is the way that I heated water when I lived in Melbourne and I can tell you from experience, it was the cheapest way to heat water that I have known. This is a fact.

Moving to “renewables” has proven to be far more expensive for all Australians, despite another broken promise from Mr Albanese, promising cheaper power for all. But, just look at your power bills, and look what is to come, with the inland power grid that is yet to be built.

The constant refusal of the Prime Minister to tell Australians the full agenda of the Voice to parliament is a lie by omission. How else can it be seen? I hope that the LNP, both state and federal, finally realise that the way we are going is wrong and we need to reverse course and get back to the core values that my parents taught me and that have made this country strong and safe. We are out here Mr Dutton, just waiting for someone with courage to vote for.

And now, in Herald Sun (Monday, August 7), I see that all Victorian public servants will be “told” to support the Yes campaign, even to work for it. Under current legislation, all Victorian public servants (unless in some specified areas) are required to support the decisions of the sitting government. This is clearly wrong and must be repealed. People’s individual careers could be totally destroyed if they refuse to work for the Yes campaign. Is Australia better under Labor, I think not.

Robert Pugh,

Benalla

Time to make a choice

Let’s talk about the coming referendum on the Voice.

The letters I have been reading about the Voice promoting the ‘No’ case do not elicit much information apart from fear, distraction and calling people names. They also provide no solutions.

The poet from the last century, Karle Baker, expressed it well when he wrote courage is not the absence of fear; courage is fear that has said its prayers.

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt back in the depression days of the 1930s said: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”.

I say we as a nation can accomplish many and great things if we look at the problems face on rather than being held back by fear and doubt.

The Voice as proposed is based on the Uluru Statement from the Heart which invites all Australians to walk with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for a better future.

I think we are the only nation in the western world that does not have any recognition of its First Peoples in its founding document and it is about time we did.

The closing the gap reports of Aboriginal Australians that were instigated from Kevin Rudd’s apology are reports filled with disgrace and shame for this nation.

Why is it that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have a lower life expectancy compared to other Australians?

Incarceration rates are disgracefully high. Suicide rates are 27 per 100,000 when it should close to zero. These reports are a disgrace to this nation and should fill all Australians with shame.

Instead of doing what has been done in the past which has been a failure time and time again, let’s do something different and give Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders a role in their future.

The Voice as proposed will provide an advisory role from Aboriginals from local communities for changing processes and outcomes for the benefit of those communities and for the benefit of all Australians. A Yes vote will benefit all Australians and enhance our future.

Robert Bird,

Benalla

A better future for all

For 60,000 years our First Nation's People lived sustainably on this country.

In 200 years white colonisation has all but destroyed the once pristine environment. In that time black people have been subjected to the injustices of loss of homeland, family breakups and deaths in custody. The gap between black and white living standards is widening.

Living in the Northern Territory for a time with our family we came to know and respect Aboriginal people, their attachment to Country, their strong sense of community and culture, and their total lack of bitterness for past injustices.

After years of consultation with Indigenous communities a group of distinguished black people have recommended firstly, that First Nations People be finally recognised in the Australian Constitution. Secondly that a mix of First Nations People be able to advise parliament on ways to achieve better outcomes for black people in social justice, education and health issues. This makes practical sense.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation from Indigenous Australians to all Australians to walk with them across this great country to a better future for all. How can we not say Yes to this generous offer.

Kathy Murphy,

Winton.