The week before last, a remarkable piece of political propaganda found its way into my mailbox. Rather than simply dismiss it outright, I thought a response to its main ‘arguments’ might be more useful. I want to go through the pamphlet page by page and section by section. The ‘arguments’ say much about those opposed to the Voice.
The Propaganda Pamphlet, Part One: The Front Page
The front page has the following:
THE VOICE: RISKY, UNKNOWN, PERMANENT
Ok, in order. Why is it ‘risky’? Because you say it is? Most changes are risky. Not all risk is necessarily negative. Great things can happen if you are willing to take risks. Further, the idea that the Voice is ‘unknown’ is essentially a restatement of the ‘detail’ argument, which I and others have shown is total crap. The details are readily available, but those opposed to the Voice do not want to read them. They ignore the details that are available precisely so they can make this argument.
A chief criticism of the former government under Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison was that they ‘created their own success’. This meant that they created conditions that set up their own arguments and/or policies. The go-to case here is the cutting of university funding by 20% and then turning around and proposing fee deregulation. Which of course would not have been necessary without the funding cut. Slimeballs.
We see this with the Voice also. They deliberately ignore the multi-hundred-page report detailing what the Voice will mean, and then say that Mr. Albanese is being cagey with the details. Said it before, say it again: slimeballs.
However, my favourite of all the ‘criticisms’ of the voice is the idea that it will be permanent and enshrined in the Constitution. What this boils down to, dear friends, is Conservatives complaining that they will not be able to come in and abolish this body the next time they are returned to power. The idea that they don’t have the final say over something enrages them. Born to rule sticks as a criticism for a reason.
The Propaganda Pamphlet, Part Two: Page One
The pamphlet starts by drawing in as many people as possible. It states:
All fair-minded Australians want to help Indigenous Australians in disadvantaged communities improve their lives.
The Liberal Party supports regional voices, with powers clearly defined by parliament.
This is designed to create ‘common ground’ with the majority, the goal being to lead them down the rocky path in the next sentence. You see this with conservatives all the time: everybody supports [group], but they want [unreasonable strawman of the actual position].
The pamphlet continues with this revealing statement:
However, the Albanese Government wants to go much further – enshrining a Voice in the Constitution with few limits to its scope and few details.
First, their outrage over it being ‘in the Constitution’ (the bolding was theirs) again indicates that the problem is that they will not be able to abolish it next time they are voted in. They resent the permanent nature of the Voice. They resent that its existence is not subject to their partisan whims.
Second, the very words to be added to the Constitution define the Voice’s scope and limit its powers.
Clause 3 of the proposed Section 129 of the Constitution reads as follows:
The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.
The first Clause establishes the existence of the Voice, while the second limits its scope to issues relating to First Nations Peoples. For our purposes, this third clause is decisive. It makes clear that parliament has the power to make laws about the Voice, including composition, functions, powers and procedures. Its powers are defined by parliament. One has to seriously question if the LNP have actually read the proposed Constitutional changes.
The first page ends with the remarkably insidious:
Don’t know? SAY NO
So, they create doubt around the Voice, and then tell people to vote no if they are unsure. You have to admire the propaganda techniques on display here.
The Propaganda Pamphlet, Part Three: Page Two
The middle page begins by complaining that Australia has not changed its Constitution by referendum since 1977. What is your point? If anything, this is evidence that the country has become calcified. In addition, if I were the Liberal Party, I would be silent on the idea that the Constitution is somehow sacred. Scott Morrison swore himself into ministries, a flagrant violation of the Constitution. To now hammer that document’s sanctity is delusional. Get that garbage outta here!
Page two ends with quite possibly the least self-aware set of statements that I have seen for some time. This has to be quoted in full to be believed:
DIVISIVE
Enshrining in our Constitution a body for only one group of Australians, means permanently dividing Australians by race.
Many Indigenous Australians don’t want this. The Constitution belongs to all Australians.
We need to bring Australians together, not divide them.
Let us start with the idea that a Constitutionally-enshrined body for only certain Australians divides the country by race. You mean like Parliament? Prior to the 1967 referendum, Indigenous Australians were not even counted among the population. That racist idea was also enshrined in the much-vaunted Constitution (S127, since repealed). However, the point is that Parliament was, from its foundation, enshrined in the Constitution as a body exclusively for one group of Australians. Drop this argument, No Campaign: you will lose it!
The Voice is a response to the decades of exclusion that First Nations Peoples faced in Australia, exclusion that was based solely on their race. To say that the response to such race-based exclusion risks dividing the country by race is delusional.
Next is the idea that ‘the Constitution belongs to all Australians’. Really? A document of imperial conquest by the British belongs to Indigenous Australians, does it? Finally, it is surprising that the universe did not implode from the irony of a Liberal Party led by Peter Dutton talking about ‘not dividing Australians by race’. African Gangs, anyone? The Biloela Kids as ‘anchor babies’, anyone? Go away now!
The Propaganda Pamphlet, Part Four: Page Three
The next ‘criticisms’ are equally as vapid. As well as a restatement of the ‘permanency’ argument, we have this nonsense, under the heading of ‘Ineffective’:
Having a centralised voice – rather than regional voices – risks overlooking the needs of regional and remote communities.
Yes, because if there’s one group in the country the LNP cares about, it is regional and remote communities. More seriously, they do know that the National Voice does not replace the existing regional and local Voices, right? This is not a ‘one or the other’ situation. Similarly, does the Federal Government existing risk overlooking the needs of states and local government areas? No, of course not. Local, State and Federal governments exist in parallel. The same would be the case for the Voices.
Conclusion: This is All You Have?
If the pseudo-arguments put forward in this remarkable piece of political propaganda are the best that those opposed to the Voice can muster at this point, the campaign is dead. Simple application of basic logic and critical thinking exposes the ‘case’ against the Voice as quite ineffectual. It is standard Conservative fare: fear the unknown (despite there being ample detail about the Voice). I do find it interesting that they tipped their hand so blatantly with the ‘this is permanent’ argument. They are clearly desperate, and that argument was not thought through. Their petulance thus exposed, let us hope the electorate sees through this nonsense and votes for True National Unity with a Voice.
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