I will vote for Voice because I see it as largely benign, hopefully useful, and the right thing to do for First Nations recognition.
I respect those that would vote no on political grounds because Albo is using Voice as a distraction from his total demolition of worker living standards.
And those that would vote no in policy terms because they do think embedding race in the Constitution is the right way to go about it.
But don’t tell Crikey’s new firebrand, Maeve McGregor, who is part of a transformation of the organ into a Biblical tirade of woke-labelling garbage:
…how is it that the Albanese government so readily underestimated the demonstrable power of an angry populism cloaked in white supremacy?
One possible answer is hubris. Flying high in the polls, Albanese was convinced his popularity would sustain a Yes vote in a nation weary of the divisive politics of times past. To that end, he’s instead been busying himself with other endeavours, including shoring up his popularity through a loose constellation of alliances with media personalities such as Kyle Sandilands.
Such hubris might also explain why it is the government failed to legislate Independent MP Zali Steggall’s truth in political advertising bill, despite acknowledging last November the dangers misinformation posed to the referendum’s success. And why, against the weight of expert legal opinion, it gave needless ground to the opposition on the question of a Yes/No referendum pamphlet, which — history shows — is a document invariably replete with falsehoods and misleading claims.
The alternative, more charitable answer is that Albanese hoped his style of politics, bland as it is, would inspire those on the right to detach themselves from their daily efforts of outrage and apocalyptic thinking and return to the sensible, civil centre. But even if that is so, surely it was obvious by March that so much was wishful thinking.
And so now the nation finds itself at an unenviable crossroads, increasingly cornered by the haunting spectre of a scarcely concealed racism and blind political opportunism.
Against the backdrop of falling approval ratings for the prime minister and a looming recession, the situation for the Yes campaign is reportedly so dire the Labor Party is mobilising a far-reaching grassroots campaign with Yes23, with the trade union movement, too, joining their ranks.
Some are hopeful the next four months will give way to hope and restore optimism. The difficulty, however, is the right’s pathway to success was always the easier to navigate. The more socially acceptable it appears to be to oppose the Voice, the more likely it is people will march unperturbed to the right’s drumbeat of division and hate.
Yes, the LNP is seeking political gain from the no-vote. Sky News is bloody awful about it. Yes, they have done this kind of thing before.
But Australians are grown-ups, and voting no is not intrinsically racist.
The problems for Voice will only intensify as woke “outrage, apocalyptic thinking, division and hate” spreads.
And maybe the Crikey business model is not as different from Sky News as it cares to think.
