The Voice

The Voice Referendum Must Fail Spectacularly

The wheels are starting to fall off the billy-cart that is the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum proposal.  Recent polling suggests support has fallen below 50 per cent.  Coupled with the now official opposition from the now (somewhat) emboldened Opposition, history would suggest that the best that Voice proponents can hope for is that it limps over the line.

That would be a disaster for Australia.

On the other hand, if it falls apart just short of the line, that would hardly be a result that No advocates could applaud.  Such a result would generate a ‘we wuz robbed’ reaction and engender screams of racism, appeals to international treaties sand possibly even violence.  It would remain a festering sore, and major distraction, in our public discourse for years to come.

This referendum must fail spectacularly.  A big ask I know.  So, we all have to play an active role in promoting the No Case.

We often hear the refrain ’if you don’t understand it, then don’t vote for it’. That is not a valid basis to vote No. That would provide a convenient fig leaf for frustrated Yes voters to argue their ‘we wuz robbed’ case.

What we want is for No voters to be able to say “I voted No because I did understand it’.

That is where my book The Indigenous Voice to Parliament – the No Casepublished by Connor Court comes into play.

I have developed a comprehensive, but short and easy to read compendium of the many reasons to vote No.  My book includes my own arguments as well as some of the major arguments developed by commentators such as Janet Albrechtsen.

I hope many readers will be inspired to purchase the book for their own edification, and also with a view to educating their own circle of relations and acquaintances.

The book will be launched on at 6.00pm Thursday, May 11, at Il Gambero restaurant in Carlton.  The event will be hosted by Roger Franklin, and Tony Thomas will officially launch the book.  Tickets ($6) can be ordered here:

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/connorcourtpublishing/904470

I would love to meet any of our Melbourne-based readers who might be inclined to attend. 

11 thoughts on “The Voice Referendum Must Fail Spectacularly

  • Ceres says:

    Good on you Peter with the book. Need all shoulders to the wheel to prevent this disaster for the country.
    Encouragingly the ‘no’ case has gained momentum with the appointment of the articulate Jacinta Price, the Liberal stance and a few ‘own’ goals by the ‘yes’ mob. Latest being Albanese’s disgraceful remarks on Anzac day about Aboriginal soldiers who “fought harder for Australia than Australia was sometimes willing to fight for them”. This nasty man just can’t help himself with his alienating comments. Keep those own goals coming please.

  • Surftilidie says:

    As well as supporting Peter and the cause, with the purchase of his book, you might like to visit this site
    https://www.fairaustralia.com.au for some other ways in which you can offer support. Even if it’s as little as pledging your vote.

  • Michael says:

    Dear right. And everybody has a part to play. Albanese’s proposed megaphone Voice to everyone on everything must go down to the biggest defeat in Australian referendum history. As it should.

  • Doubting Thomas says:

    My copy arrived this morning. Reading it now.

  • lbloveday says:

    Chris Kenny has a paywalled article in The Weekend Australian 29/4/2023 in which he takes aim at Henry Ergas and Peter O’Brien.
    .
    I think these 241 words from the half page article on p24 can be allowed under copyright law.
    ******
    Peter O’Brien in Quadrant, who ran with the headline The Voice in Chris Kenny’s Head and opened by asking, “Would it be too fanciful to suggest some sort of selective woke virus has infected Chris Kenny’s brain?” I am not familiar with O’Brien, who used some of my online and email responses to readers and viewers to construct some sort of dialogue between us. (He could have just declared himself and asked for an interview.)
    .
    He took issue with my contention that the only mentions of Indigenous people in the Constitution had been to exclude them. This is just a matter of fact: they were excluded from being counted in our census under section 127 (repealed in the 1967 referendum); excluded under the race power in section 51 (xxvi), the exclusion removed in the 1967 referendum; and in section 25 people of any “race … disqualified from voting” are not counted in state populations, a redundant clause that was directed at the many Indigenous people who did not have voting rights at Federation.
    .
    O’Brien argues the fact “Aborigines were specifically excluded from two provisions necessarily means they were included in all others”. Well, it was three, as I just outlined, and when the exclusion is to not count people as citizens of a state or a country, it is difficult to seriously argue this is evidence of inclusion – by this logic denying Indigenous Australians the vote was an act of recognition!
    ******
    PS, The Australian allows seemingly unlimited simultaneous logons (I’ve tested it to 100, and informed “them, but they seems more interested in clicks)

    • lbloveday says:

      (I’ve tested it to 100 and informed them, but they seem more interested in clicks).
      .
      I’d originally identified whom I had notified, re-thought and changed it but overlooked the grammar.

  • Dallas Beaufort says:

    Kenny infere’s the Voice is a Given, I say Humbug !!!

  • norsaint says:

    Alas Peter, I’m sure the fix is in.

Leave a Reply