The Voice Referendum: Can Colonial Era Paternalism Be Overturned?
By Denis Bright
By year’s end, voters will have delivered their verdict on the Voice Referendum. If supported in four states by a majority of voters, this constitutional change will begin a redefinition of our national culture by a timely reminder of those 60,000 years of Indigenous settlement in the only country which occupies an entire continent.
Mark Ludlow of the AFR has unlocked some of the polling from Freshwater Strategy on the current state of support for the Voice Referendum in Queensland (6 July 2023). The referendum can of course fail in Queensland and still succeed with support from SA and WA as noted in polling results.
Even in Queensland, enthusiastic and informed campaigning for the Yes Case amongst undecided voters can still sway public opinion against opposition from sections of the LNP and Far Right campaigners. In the federal seat of Leichhardt in NQ, with its significant Indigenous population, LNP member Warren Entsch is not supporting the LNP’s official line in opposing the Yes case.
Many voters in Regional Queensland are apathetic about the Yes Case or actively oppose its commitments.
There is also an enormous age divide on the Voice proposal with 72 per cent of Queensland seniors opposed to the constitutional changes. This age divide probably extends to other states and territories.
Missing from the Freshwater polling is any evidence of regional variations in support for the Yes case in Brisbane and SEQ.
Jason McNamara’s Calendar is a reminder of shadows from Queensland’s colonial past on the contemporary landscapes of Ipswich in Queensland. There are similar shadows across most heritage towns and cities in regional Australia. Only time of course will reveal the real impact of these regional variations on the final mix of the forthcoming referendum results. Both the colonial past and our digital future are intangible realities which influence politics in the here and now. Jason McNamara’s calendar from 2017 creatively covers these shadows (Ipswich Leftovers Facebook):
Voters everywhere have access to excellent resources on Indigenous history and culture. The Ipswich Library with the support of the State Archives and the Ipswich City Council offer a fair perspective on the place of Indigenous history and culture. Readers may wish to check out the resources which have been developed by the Ipswich Library.
Previous generations looked selectively but nostalgically at the Colonial Period when Ipswich thrived as a retail hub, coal mining centre, manufacturing and rail transport centre. The railway workshops at North Ipswich with its vast workforce was one of the foundations of local employment and cultural life.
Back in the Chifley era in 1947, the federal government commissioned a promotional film through the Department of Information to foster British interest in emigration to Australia in The New Ipswich.
The emphasis in this promotional documentary was always on the shadows of early British settlement in Ipswich. The history of Ipswich was framed around the arrival of explorer Allan Cunningham in 1828. This historic documentary is available on a number of YouTube sites.
In place of the social reality of a diverse society in our midst, Australians accepted the constitutional package enacted by both houses of the British parliament which were approved by a series of referenda in 1899 on a very limited national franchise. One colony missed the deadline as negotiations continued between the colonial government in WA and the steering committee of the National Convention:
The resultant constitution contained no reference to the Indigenous people who could not vote and were even excluded from the census counts until 1971.
The Australian constitution defined the complex rules of national politics which became the contested political realities of the Federation era (1901-14). Labor was in power federally with a majority in both houses on two occasions before the conscription issue split the Labor movement during the Great War. Both sides of Australian politics accepted the constitutional package without any acknowledgment of all those millennia of Indigenous occupation.
The Labor Movement in Queensland accepted the constitutional package during the Federation Era. It largely ignored Indigenous issues and campaigned for a stricter enforcement of the White Australia Policy and the repatriation of Kanaka labourers.
Against all odds, Ipswich and District in the sprawling Moreton Electorate elected James Wilkinson as its first representative to the national parliament which met in Melbourne until 1927. James Wilkinson survived two terms as an independent Labor member before losing Moreton in 1906 as an endorsed Labor candidate. A former coal miner from Bundamba in Thomas Glassey (1844-1936) moved from state to federal politics as senator for Queensland between 1901-03.
Federation Labor leaders did not stop campaigning for the advancement of their local constituency after an election defeat. The ICC Council and Library note that James Wilkinson operated a printing press adjacent to his home in Martin Street in Ipswich to produce partisan articles for the Labor Party and trade unions. James Wilkinson was an alderman on the ICC at the time of his death in January 1915. The racist attitudes of their sincere commitments are no longer relevant. Join me on a visit to his former residents (Image: ICC Library and Council):
In international affairs, the federation Labor leaders always endorsed Empire-wide strategic policies. Prime Minister Andrew Fisher and former miner at Gympie vowed to defend Australia as part of the British Empire to the last man and the last shilling. However, as Higher Commissioner to London (1916-21), Andrew Fisher would not publicly support the conscription campaigns of Billy Hughes. Labor narrowly lost Andrew Fisher’s safe Labor seat of Wide Bay at the by-election on 11 December 1915. Conservatives had fully mastered the sinister arts of wooing voters in formed Labor heartlands for most of the next generation until the arrival of John Curtin as Opposition Leader in 1935.
The archives from local papers in Ipswich show the depth of racist attitudes towards the management of Indigenous mission settlements at Deebing Creek and Purga.
Indigenous people were contracted out by local landowners when not attending to livestock, farming and repair workshops. Readers are invited to use the resources of Trove to investigate mainstream media coverage of these settlements prior to and after federation. It was always assumed that Indigenous people needed benevolent protectors.
The Voice Referendum offers a way out of a continuation of old-style paternalism. Hopefully, voters in the Ipswich based federal seats of Oxley and Blair will warm to the new It’s Time Message on behalf of Indigenous people who deserve an honoured place in the constitution. However, many of the mindsets from the Federation era are strongly supported particularly in Regional Australia and in some Labor heartland electorates.
The Freshwater Strategy Polling justifies still more commitment to the success of the Voice Referendum which was helped along by the various cultural events of NAIDOC Week. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to right old wrongs.
Denis Bright (pictured) is a financial member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Denis is committed to consensus-building in these difficult times. Your feedback from readers advances the cause of citizens’ journalism. Full names are not required when making comments. However, a valid email must be submitted if you decide to hit the Replies Button.
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
Your contribution to help with the running costs of this site will be gratefully accepted.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
24 comments
Login here Register here-
Andrew Smith -
New England Cocky -
Truth Teller -
New England Cocky -
Terence Mills -
Michaela -
Clakka -
Clakka -
Leila -
leefe -
Terence Mills -
Pat -
Tessa_M -
James Robo -
Terence Mills -
Barry -
Harry Lime -
Barry -
Terry Mills -
Barry -
Burleigh Waters -
Stella -
Burleigh Waters -
Even Stephen
Return to home pageInteresting, but on this ‘There is also an enormous age divide on the Voice proposal with 72 per cent of Queensland seniors opposed to the constitutional changes. This age divide probably extends to other states and territories.’
When one considers the QLD media environment and LNP/ON culture, one doubts if support of No to The Voice is the same as regions elsewhere?
However, on the other hand, with our centralised and hollowed out urban media which covers regions too, it uses the same common negative themes or agitprop for increasing numbers of oldies to keep them united against any change or progress?
Uhm ….. some minor points; there were four (4) Australasian Constitutional Conventions in the 1890s, where Isaac Isaacs, a Jewish lawyer from Beechworth Victoria actively advocated against Aboriginal persons having a vote after federation, despite South Australia having enfranchised all women and Aboriginals in 1992. Later about 1906 as Judge sitting alone Isaacs CJ denied a claim from an SA Aboriginal man to have the vote, and so commenced the state sponsored genocide of Aboriginal peoples.
.
Aboriginals are affected by two sections of the Constitution that permit Parliament to make laws for any race.
.
The difficulty for traditional imperialists clinging to 19th century apron strings of English magnanimity is that there has been no treaty between any Aboriginal nation and the English, so no land has ever been ceded and English land titles since Governor Macquarie technically may have no more value that the present Native Land Title gives to Aboriginal peoples claiming rights over Torrens titles of others.
.
Regardless, likely because of European history in Australia, the country, its governments and government departments have a very strong racist preference as displayed in sport and indeed every aspect of provision of government services.
.
THAT is why The Voice Referendum must be included in the Australian Constitution.
@NEC – In SA, Aboriginal men enfranchised in 1856.
Women who were property owners enfranchised in 1861, ALL women in 1895.
@ Truth Teller: Thank you for the edit. That makes the betrayal of Aborigines so much worse for the Convention falling into line with the eugenist Isaac Isaacs. However, there is the subsequent sad historical irony of events in Germany 1933 -1945.
History throws the occasional curved ball !
In 1829 British sovereignty extended to cover the whole of Australia – everyone born in Australia, including Aboriginal people, became a British subject by birth.
In South Australia by 1856 all adult (21 years) male British subjects were entitled to vote which included indigenous males.
As noted by TT, by 1895 all adult women in South Australia won the right to vote, including Indigenous women.
As historian Geoffrey Blainey has noted :
South Australia’s innovation occurred when 99 per cent of the women in the world did not have a vote. In renowned cities such as Paris, Berlin, London, New York, St Petersburg, Tokyo and Beijing, not one woman had the privilege now exercised by female Aboriginal voters in South Australia
The rest of Australia took some time to catch up with South Australia.
An article in the Denis Bright traditions that appeals to the moral conscience to bring our indigenous people into the letter of the constitution through the Voice.
Excellent article Denis Bright, and great question.
I note your Queensland focussed observations and your urgings, such as, “Readers are invited to use the resources of Trove to investigate mainstream media coverage of these settlements prior to and after federation. It was always assumed that Indigenous people needed benevolent protectors.” … “ The Voice Referendum offers a way out of a continuation of old-style paternalism.”
In these days of rampant fearful individualistic greed, I’m not so sure about a prevalence moral conscience, as opposed to an entanglement of misdirections and strangled rationale to cover paranoia and that greed.
The English have been using the expedient ruse of benevolence and paternalism since time immemorial. It’s just not cricket is it? I note recently, in their hallowed halls, their bare-faced return to lies, deceptions and verbal brutality when facing defeat by the patently superior performance of Oz’s post-colonial dregs. Much of this odious attitude persists in our Oz Acts and the psyche of our unreconstructed.
Through history they are well known for obtaining their enrichment by conning themselves and others via linguistic gymnastics, misdirections, lies and confabulations, in both the commission of murderous thievery, and the subjugation of everyone and anything in their path. Right through to today they have spread this blight of sophistry to suit their aspirations throughout the anglosphere, such that increasingly, the cultures of the rest of the world are awakened to it, and are seeing the main proponents, England and America, hoist by their own petard.
In Oz, the English via their writs and those of their colonial agents continue their deceptions solely to enrich themselves (in Victoria):
Deception in Admiralty instructions to Cook and various Orders to Arthur Phillip
Misapplication of “Terra Nullius” via Magna Carta and the Receptions Doctrine
The lies in and underlying Governor Bourke’s correspondence and Proclamation
Deceptions regarding ’settling’ or ‘conquering’ and ‘common law’ and ‘customary law’
The unlawfulness of Batman’s Treaty
Lies told to prospective settlers about ease of obtaining arable land giving rise to conflict & murder
Importing ex-convicts from Tasmania to affect dispossession and probable genocide
Ongoing massacres, 1835-39 184 killed, 1840-49 279 killed, 1850-59 17 killed (least recorded)
Ignoring of the provisions of the Slavery Abolitions Act 1853
Validity of Colonial Law Act 1865, covering Crown from its previous legislation based upon untruths
Forced removal of Aboriginals to Reserves
Oz Constitution does not acknowledge Aboriginal inhabitants extant, they are not citizens till 1967
Ongoing theft of Aboriginal land, enslavement with no (or withheld) pay
Forced eradication of Aboriginal culture & language, incl brutality by government sponsored clerics
Great War, non-citizen Aborigines fought, upon return, unlike Whites were not given land or jobs
Forced removal of Aboriginal children by ‘Protectors’ aided by police.
‘Interventions’ in Aboriginal citizen’s affairs by the military ordered by the LNP Howard government
Failure to address ongoing effects of privations foist on Aborigines by successive governments
Continuing brutality via biased policing and excessive incarceration of Aborigines
Since biblical times, history has been established by revisionism wrought through the lens of religious fantasy, bigotry, racism and political expedience to brainwash ordinary folk. England increasingly brought it to a fine art, convincing itself of its supremacy. It had nothing to do with paternalism or benevolence, merely acquisition and greed.
From my childhood in the outer urban bush, from the moment my bare feet hit the ground I have always felt like an aborigine. I was never taught anything at school about Oz Aborigines. I had to do all my extensive research and have my experiences myself. Whilst recently, in particular I have enjoyed the recent intensification of positive programming on ABC TV and RN on Aboriginal culture, such as One-Plus_One The Elders, and etc., and the wonderful shows around NAIDOC week, I just hope it keeps going, and steps up. However, in my western Victorian region, regarding The Voice, I have been told regarding or by the naysayers:
“The creme-de-la-creme of farmer landholders here don’t want to know about it, they’re afraid for their tenure and what might be found out about their past ancestors.”
“Yeah, I know a few of ‘em, and they’re lazy good for nothings and have never worked.”
“They’re getting a bit uppity for me.”
It’s no surprise to me that such attitude persists, it appears to be utterly embedded in the brainwashed English White-Man culture (but not in mine or my family’s). I have appended extracts from a report on the matter from 1858-59 Victoria (when they still practiced phrenology and the like), so you may ponder whether paternalism and benevolence applies, or in the alternative if it’s been an arse-cover.
In the meantime here’s a quote from correspondence, Governor Gipps to Lord John Russell, Annotation, 9 April 1841.
“ … touches on the real truth when he observes on the hatred with which the
white man regards the Black. That feeling results from fear – from the strong physical contrasts which interrupt the sympathy which subsists between men of the same Race – from the proud sense of superiority – from the consciousness of having done them great wrongs and from the desire to escape this pain of self-reproach by laying the blame on the injured party.”
Follow-on … Part 2
Extracts from the summary of the Victoria 1858-9 REPORT of the select committee of the Legislative Council on THE ABORIGINES.
“…prior to the separation of Victoria, NSW legislature earlier commissioned 5 reports:
1838 – Report printed – no further notice of the matter
1843 – Returns ordered – no further notice taken of the matter
1845 – Chairman died – no further notice of the matter
1849 – Report cruel in the extreme – all asylums for Blacks to be done away with, expend the money on education of Whites
1850 – Some humane considerations – need acted upon.”
“From the evidence which the Committee have obtained, it appears that at the first settlement of the Colony in 1836 there were from six to seven thousand Aborigines distributed over its area. So great has been the mortality amongst them, however, that so far as can be ascertained, there are not more than a few hundreds remaining, who are in a state of abject want, with the exception of the Yarra and Western Port tribes, under the immediate charge of the Guardian of Aborigines and a few who settled on or near the old Aboriginal Station at Mount Franklin.”
“Indeed, the Blacks have been in a worse position than if the Protectorate had never been called into existence ; for under that establishment they received assistance and protection, but were left to their own resources again, when it was abolished.”
“The great and almost unprecedented reduction in the number of the Aborigines is to be attributed to the general occupation of the country by the white population; to vices acquired by contact with a civilized race, more particularly the indulgence in ardent spirits; and hunger, in consequence of the scarcity of game since the settlement of the Colony ; and, also in some cases, to cruelty and ill-treatment.”
“It would appear that they have materially degenerated since the advent of the whites, as Mr. Thomas has said ” the young die two to one in proportion to the old ; I have some old people yet.” The rapid settlement necessary upon the country being occupied by flocks and herds was more unfavorable to the Aborigines than if it had only been gradually taken up for agricultural purposes.”
“Your Committee are of opinion that great injustice has been perpetrated upon the Aborigines—that, when the Government of the Colony found it necessary to take from them their hunting grounds and their means of living, proper provision should have been made for them. …… but being weak and ignorant, even for savages, they have been treated with almost utter neglect.”
“With the exception of the Protectorate, which was an emanation of the Imperial Government, and which seemed to have been only partially successful, little or nothing has been done for the black denizens of the country. Victoria is now entirely occupied by a superior race, and there is scarcely a spot, excepting in the remote mountain ranges, or dense scrubs, on which the Aborigine can rest his weary feet.”
“The Committee regret that it has been so long neglected. They trust that your Honorable House will vigorously strive for some permanent provision for the poor oppressed and wandering natives, who have been so long left in abject want and misery; and that endeavors will be made, in the language of the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge in Foreign Parts, ” for the conversion of the blacks, whose country God’s Providence has given to the British Crown, and whose amelioration and happiness he has confided to British Christian benevolence.””
“The only practical method of accomplishing the desired object, and the one most likely under all the circumstances of the case to succeed, would, in the opinion of your Committee, be to form reserves for the various tribes, on their own hunting grounds. Those ought to be of such a size as would enable each tribe to combine agricultural and gardening operations with the depasturing of a moderate number of cattle and sheep (such reserves in agricultural districts not to exceed 500 acres ; but where the land is not capable of being used for agriculture, then the reserve to be materially extended, in order that it might unite pastoral with agricultural pursuits); and every effort should be made to induce the Aborigines to take an interest in the occupations of civilized life and give their aid in carrying out the various branches of industry. Those establishments ought to be under the charge of missionaries, clerical or lay, whose duty it would be to endeavor to teach the Aborigines the great principles of Christianity, as well as the elemental branches of secular education; and it is the opinion of the Committee, that ample supplies of provisions and blankets should be provided for these establishments until they could be made self-supporting, which your Committee trust might ultimately be the case.”
“Your Committee hope that, in some measure, under the plan which they have suggested, the remnants of the Aborigines may be both civilized and christianized. They find, upon a thorough investigation of this part of the subject, that the Aborigines are possessed of mental power on a par with their brethren of the other races of man; and that they are perhaps superior to the Negro, and some of the more inferior divisions of the great human family. They are supported in this opinion by Dr. Pickering, the only writer on the subject who personally inspected the races whom he described, and who therefore stands high as an authority on the subject. He says—” I would refer to an Australian as the finest model of the human proportions I have ever met with in muscular development—his head might compare with an antique bust of a philosopher.”* Their perceptive faculties are peculiarly acute, they are apt learners, and possess the most intense desire to imitate their more civilized brethren in almost everything. Mr. Archibald Campbell has given most important evidence in reference to their diligence and faithfulness as servants, and Messrs. Chase, Spieseke, and Parker, to their quickness and capacity for acquiring the rudiments of education, which is corroborated by various public documents written by G. A. Robinson, Esq., for many years Chief Protector of Aborigines in this country.”
“It was hoped that it might have been practicable to have settled the whole of the remnants of the tribes in one locality, and the first two witnesses, Mr. Thomas, Guardian of Aborigines, and the Rev. Mr. Spieseke, Moravian Missionary to the Aborigines, were examined at great length on the subject. The former gentleman expressed a decided opinion against the practicability of such a plan. The blacks would not leave their own hunting grounds, and would pine away at once if removed from them. The various tribes would never agree to go there ; consequently the idea of settling them together was reluctantly abandoned by your Committee, in favor of the plan that all the witnesses appeared to agree in thinking the most likely to succeed.”
“Your Committee hope that, in some measure, under the plan which they have suggested, the remnants of the Aborigines may be both civilized and christianized. They find, upon a thorough investigation of this part of the subject, that the Aborigines are possessed of mental power on a par with their brethren of the other races of man; and that they are perhaps superior to the Negro, and some of the more inferior divisions of the great human family. They are supported in this opinion by Dr. Pickering, the only writer on the subject who personally inspected the races whom he described, and who therefore stands high as an authority on the subject. He says—” I would refer to an Australian as the finest model of the human proportions I have ever met with in muscular development—his head might compare with an antique bust of a philosopher.”* Their perceptive faculties are peculiarly acute, they are apt learners, and possess the most intense desire to imitate their more civilized brethren in almost everything. Mr. Archibald Campbell has given most important evidence in reference to their diligence and faithfulness as servants, and Messrs. Chase, Spieseke, and Parker, to their quickness and capacity for acquiring the rudiments of education, which is corroborated by various public documents written by G. A. Robinson, Esq., for many years Chief Protector of Aborigines in this country.”
“The general tenor of the evidence will bear out the conclusion which your Committee have arrived at—that, while the Aborigines are endued with keen perceptive faculties, there is a considerable deficiency in their reflective faculties, and a certain want of steadiness of purpose in their characters, which appears the great obstacle to be overcome in reclaiming them, and bringing them within the pale of civilization and Christianity.“
THOS. McCOMBIE,
Chairman.
A lot can happen in the three months or more before the referendum data. The betting odds do favour a No result probably with a majority in five states.but just failing to gain the national majority. Even the betting odds are closer than I expected.
Clakka:
Gotta love how their solution is to missionise the everlovin’ life out of the Aboriginal survivors. Of all the pointless, tone-deaf, wiilfully blind, arrogant, paternalistic bullshit …
I see that the Murdoch machine and in particular Sky-after-dark have gone into overdrive to sink the referendum.
I’m assuming that a memo must have come out from the old coffin dodger in New York telling his colonial minions to destroy the referendum. Is it because Murdoch is fundamentally racist or does he think the failure of the referendum will hurt Labor ?
I hope the enquiry into Murdoch’s media domination will recognise that his is not a news organisation but a far-right political party.
PS : I hear that Sky are having a daily podcast on NOVA FM [Lachlan’s radio station] of Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin discussing the events of the day – I can’t wait !
Let’s support the Yes Case to re-write the wrongs.
Love of country justifies commitment to the Voice. Great work Denis.
The Voice is worth our campaign efforts.
The Fadden byelection – Stuart Robert’s old seat – is on Saturday and may give an indication of the issues that voters are thinking about.
Robert had a first preference vote of 44.6% in the 2022 federal election and won easily but, that was with a swing against the LNP of 4.1%.
There are thirteen candidates and from media interviews, the main issues seem to be the cost of living with particular reference to interest rates and residential rental costs. Issues that are beyond the scope of the federal government : whilst the Greens are pushing for a legislated rental cap on residential properties this is not something that the federal government can do constitutionally and the Qld state government has already said they would not be imposing a rent cap.
You would expect that if Robodeb was to feature as an issue there would be a swing against the LNP (who are a merged party in Qld) or if the Voice was an issue perhaps voters would show their inclination by supporting the party that reflects their view on the upcoming referendum.
Then there is always the rusted on voter who won’t shift whatever the case and the possibility of a teal Independent coming out of the woodwork.
We shall see !!
https://www.aec.gov.au/fadden/candidates.htm
If Albo and his YES-men & YES-women want a better deal for Aboriginals, why not do something now – like listen & act, NOW?
What’s he waiting for, his balls to drop?
I’m over these pretend leaders who seem to have a kind of unconscious principle goal of fracturing society.
Terence you say “residential rental costs . . beyond the scope of the federal government”. I have to disagree.
Rents are a function of the costs incurred by the landlord.
So what things impact on the borrowing ability and therefore the capital outlay that an investor uses to buy a rental property?
If anyone answers that question honestly it’s easy to see that the scope of what Fed govt can control is vast.
The viability of ‘investment’ properties as a business model is wholly reliant on a tax system that is heavily skewed to investor advantage. Remove such advantages as negative gearing, interest-only loans, the ability to claim deductions against primary unrelated incomes, etc and the whole Ponzi collapses. The current model supported by tax legislation designed for or by self-interested politicians is an absolute nonsense. It should be ended immediately.
That’s unlikely to happen for 2 reasons. The first is the RE Ponzi cottage industry – large and small investors, bank lenders, etc have an expectation that they deserve to continue to exist as a protected species. When threatened they will use their ‘voice’, the MSM, to wail and weep that the sky will fall if the tax system, which was earlier changed back in the 1980s to advantage investors, is pivoted to advantage entrant home-buyers. The second reason is more covert, it’s that the underplayed fracture line of ‘haves versus have-nots’ will be used to reset the economy at the opportune time. This potential of ‘fracturing’ of the economy & society is the result of decades of think tanks working away at one level up above govt & industry. I doubt if many people are going to enjoy that fracture when it fails as designed.
It’d be smarter to consciously change the tax system rather than risk a controlled demolition by covert forces.
Barry, as we know,Labor has morphed into Liberal Lite,and they’d hate to rock the boat that they all have 1st class seats on.Nothing of consequence is going to change until we’re all going over that cliff.In the meantime,materialism rules O.K.?
Too true Harry, it’s hard to tell the difference in some policy areas, Libs = Labor. Our education system is built on the material-mental world dominates ok rule. It’s half the story. Man is the confluence of the material, mental and spiritual realms but the latter serves no purpose for those who write the rules. Reckon I’ll pack a non-attachment parachute. That way the cliff can go jump.
Barry
You may well be right but you would have to help me out by pointing me to the section of the Constitution that grants the head of power for a federal government to impose a national freeze on rents.
Remember, the constitution only gives the government certain powers (section 51) and any powers not granted in the constitution remain the province of the states : the states could of course relinquish their powers and give them to the federal government but that is most unlikely.
Terence, yes the good olde ‘govt will – should freeze rents’ meme was a red herring from the moment it was thrown into the public arena. As far as I can make, it was – is, misinfo – disinfo that the govt, State or Federal, have the power to directly set or control rents. I never believed it for a moment. But didn’t the media go hard? For legacy media, it was a case of never let an opportunity go to waste. Why not get the people running around in circles chasing a rainbow? Seems msm likes to distract the public with irrelevant decoys. Don’t fall for it.
I maintain that moderating ‘residential rental costs’ so as to tone down inflation is not ‘beyond the scope of the federal government’. The Fed govt writes the tax regs which have a direct effect on the borrowing capacity of investors. If the borrowing capacity of investors is regulated by pivoting some of the regs towards family home buyers, inflation would be more moderate. Wouldn’t that be a bonus to 90% of people? Tax regs designed to benefit bank profits & GST takes by State & Fed govts is what got us into this cost of living mess.
I have not read the Constitution, I thought is was more do with human rights. If I have time I might read it one day. However, I wouldn’t be looking into the Constitution to find a solution to a problem that is simply caused by bent tax regulations and the irresponsible lending practices of banks.
Thanks for the article Denis.
Indigenous people survived here for 60,000 years and defied predictions about their extinction.
Denis, thanks for an interesting and informative article on the indigenous voice.
Great to see lots of responses.
The big steps to create the constitution and get the states on board followed the failure of NSW voters to support the earlier draft 1898. Lots of pragmatic policy was required to get all the states on board including WA at the last minute in 1900.
Get the campaigning for the Voice in overdrive. Even in Queenslanders foolishly choose to follow Bjelke’s ghost, there is solid support in three states with prospects in SA and even WA.