Friday, 20 October 2023
Shopping local keeps your money in your community!
Australia overwhelmingly votes “NO” to the referendum on an Aboriginal Voice The vote to change the constitution has failed dismally, but it does not mean that the “job” has been nished. It was not a vote to not bridge the gap between indigenous people and others. Australians want and need to be treated equally and fairly!
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rom the start the promise that a Vote for adding indigenous people’s voice be added to the constitution was shrouded in politics and nothing to do with improving the lot of indigenous people. It is important to note that Australians have taken place in an event that was democratically triggered. Both sides of the argument put their argument to the people of Australia. Some of the protagonists have not acted with true dignity. There were times of bullying tactics used. The allegation that “to vote NO makes you a racist” is not only totally incorrect, but is an instance of bullying tactics. It is important to remember that we are all Australians and we should all be treated equally. It is also important to ensure that we all are able to enjoy the same privileges and all recognised equally within the laws of Australia. Whilst the people of Australia voted NO to this proposal does not mean that they do not want the best for indigenous peoples. Over the past
decades the Australian people’s have allocated many billions of dollars into making conditions better for indigenous people, even though the results might not indicate that. This vote appears to have been brought more from a political point of view than from bene ting indigenous peoples. This vote is not the end, but should be a new start. There should be an immediate review of the various programs that were meant to improve the lot of the indigenous. For the amounts of funding supplied to the many Aboriginal corporations and self help bodies there has been very few positive outcomes. Where did the funding go and just how was it spent. A review should investigate whether bureaucratic procedures got I the way or were there other reasons why the copious amounts of fundings were spent with no positive results. The old saying “keep doing things we have in the past because it is always how we did it” leads to failure. There is another saying that could b regarded and that is ‘money corrupts and Continued Page 3
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