Apparently, Dan Tehan was on QandA last night. I only know this because I’ve picked it up on social media because I’ve been forbidden to watch the show for the past ten years or so, owing to my tendency to shout verbal obscenities at some of the guests and my wife convinced me that this was a) a potential problem for our neighbours, b) bad for my blood pressure and c) a serious risk that I’d throw something at the TV.

Just in case you don’t know who he is, Dan Tehan is the shadow minister for Immigration and Citizenship. Don’t bother checking Wikipedia for that because it’s not there. Apparently something like that isn’t worth updating. As for his other roles, he’s held various ministries including education where his major contribution was to change the fee structure to encourage “job ready” graduates. This meant that courses such as a Bachelor of Arts would be increased while STEM courses would be cheaper. Obviously, Tehan knows that an Arts graduate isn’t “job ready” and has few skills because that’s the course that he took at Melbourne University.

Anyway, Dan was on QandA and he made some very interesting claims such as the one about any changes to the structure of the Voice would need another referendum. While he was challenged on this, it did seem rather strange that someone who’d been in Parliament for years didn’t seem to understand how the system worked, particularly when it’s been debated at length:

“Before we agree to the Voice we want to see the detail of what it will look like!”

“The Referendum is just to establish the principle of the Voice and the actual form will be decided by Parliament…”

“Yeah, but we want to see what it’ll be like before we enshrine it in the Constitution.”

“But that isn’t what we’ll be putting in the Constitution. It’s like when it says that the Federal Government will have responsibility for defence; that doesn’t dictate how many ships and planes we have…”

And so on…

But Mr Tehan seemed unable to grasp the simple fact that the Referendum -if successful – will only embed the fact of an Indigenous Voice. How it’s established would be a matter for the Parliament and if Tony Mundine (and his second cousin) Warren have any input the composition of the Voice will be made up of the winners after several rounds in a boxing ring… Mind you, I can’t see that getting through the Parliament now that Tony Abbott is no longer there.

Whatever the end result of the Referendum, I’d have to give Dan Tehan full marks for his display. When you’re supporting a campaign whose chief message is: “If you don’t know, Vote No!”, Mr Tehan was a shining example of someone who seemed to be totally ignorant of just about anything he spoke about.

Mind you, I didn’t watch the full program. I’ve only gone back and watched bits and he may have been taken out of context… Although it’s hard to be taken out context when what you’ve said is just plain ignorant. Like when he called for Albanese to stop the Referendum a few days ago which is not within the Prime Minister’s power now that the writs have gone out. This means that either Tehan was playing some sort of political game here or else he really is as silly as he sounds.

Let me be quite clear here: Just as not all those working at Auschwitz were anti-Semitic, not everyone opposing the Voice is racist. Some were simply doing a job and following orders because they’re part of the Shadow Cabinet and, similarly, some have been told to Vote No because they don’t know and they’re doing just that. And yes, some have totally different reasons for voting No, and they’re neither racist nor ignorant.

HOWEVER…

I believe there is a special place in Hell…

(Ok, it may be a surprise that I’m talking about Hell but I saw the cover of Scotty Morrison’s upcoming book: “PLANS FOR YOUR FUTURE”, which had the subheading: “A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness”, and I thought if a Prime Minister gives the Omnipotent Ruler of the Universe a thumbs up, who am I to discount the possibility of Hell?)

So I believe that there should be a special place in Hell for those who know that they’re doing the wrong thing by siding with a campaign of misinformation that will potentially do incredible damage to our nation and just idly sit by claiming Cabinet solidarity or some sort of journalistic both sides nonsense. While it’s admirable for the media to try and be fair, that doesn’t mean that if you present information, you have to treat misinformation with the same respect.

Nobody is discussing the flow-on effect of the Voice falling to get up. If we put the Indigenous issues aside for one moment – or a few decades, as John Howard managed to do – there are all sorts of other consequences. For example, any appetite for a Referendum on the Republic will be dead for the life of this government and probably several future ones.

But whatever happens, I can’t see much of an upside for Peter Dutton. His prevarication about whether he’d support the Voice always looked phoney and, if it is defeated, it actually won’t be because people have suddenly found the ugly, racist side of Australia appealing; it’ll be because there was a lot of confusion.

We can analyse and cast blame all day long, but if we have Hanson and Bolt and various others celebrating the defeat with the sort of hyperbolic nonsense about apartheid, then it probably doesn’t actually help Dutton win support for the next election. His cunning plan may hurt Albanese, but it will also leave him in a limbo with nowhere really to go. Will he support a legislated Voice that isn’t in the Constitution? Will he support “practical solutions”? Will he call for the army to go Alice Springs?

In a few months’ time, will Dutton’s Liberals look as silly as those embracing on the floor of Parliament after the repeal of the carbon “tax”?