Comments by "TJ Marx" (@tjmarx) on "Trick or Treaty? Indigenous rights, referendums and the Treaty of Waitangi" video.
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The opening of this story is a lie. Australians didn't vote not to recognise aboriginals in the constitution, if that's all the referendum were about or the questions were separated Australians would have voted for recognition.
What Australians didn't vote for was ASTIC 2.0 but this time embedded in the constitution instead of just in legislation. Australians voted no to a question that hadn't even been properly defined and the PM who has resided over Australian living standards dropping by 10% during his term refusing to answer questions about the proposal.
Edit: It is utterly false and frankly racist, to talk about any ethnic group as if they are a monolith. As if they all think the same, want the same things, have the same political goals/ideologies and feel the same about outcomes. There were just as many indigenous Australians opposed to the voice as there were for it, and the overwhelming majority of those it claimed to be aimed at helping hadn't even been told about it. Across Arnhem Land, Northern Queensland and the Torres Strait aboriginal communities weren't being told about the voice even though that's who the Canberra mob claimed it was to help. When they were told about it by journalists seeking opinion, they didn't want it. The voice was the canberra mob trying to cement their power over all indigenous australians again. It wouldn't have helped anyone. Real inclusion is the only thing that will help and that means making the NT a state, including tewee country and all of Torres Strait in voting and redefining electoral boundaries in QLD, SA and WA to give aboriginal communities a real say over candidates instead of being swamped out by larger population centres. That drives more indigenous candidates into parliament where they can have a real voice and secure real outcomes. The way forward is through unity, not division. NZ could stand to learn that too.
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