Either all Aussies are equal, or they are not

Sadly, anyone who opposes an Indigenous Voice will inevitabitly be accused of being racist and uncaring. But it’s OK to say no, writes Mike O’Connor. VOTE IN OUR POLL

If you believe in equality, and most reasonable people do, then how do you reconcile that with a belief in privilege?

We are all equal before the law in this nation and enjoy its protection. We have equal voting rights and the same freedom to practise or not to practise our religion of choice and follow the customs and culture we choose to embrace.

Equality, however, does not mean we will all end up living in that big house on the hill with the big car and big boat to match.

We are free to aspire to all of the above. Some choose to and possess the energy, drive, intellect, ambition and single-mindedness to ascend these heights. Others lack some or all of these qualities but enjoy a life lived.

Some people are born to wealth and others to poverty, an accident of birth that need not ordain their futures. Some people are born smart, others are not. There are people with energy and others who are lazy.

There will always be rich people and poor people and smart people and not so smart people. The choices we make determine our future but there is absolutely nothing to stop us from striving to achieve the goals we set.

We all get a shot. Some people get on with it and have a go. Others would rather sit on their butts and blame society for their failures. That is equality – we all get the same chance to screw things up.

Others take a different view and in their demands for equality, demand to be treated differently to the great majority by virtue of their race.

The debate over the Albanese government’s proposal to create by way of referendum an Indigenous Voice enshrined in the Constitution has just begun. It will be long and, sadly but inevitably, be marked by bitterness and acrimony.

To oppose it will invite accusations of racism. At the very least, opponents will be portrayed as uncaring and lacking compassion while being peppered with emotive references to reconciliation, being sorry and truth telling.

Indigenous senator Jacinta Price has been lambasted for daring to oppose it, her critics seemingly oblivious to the fact she is the embodiment of the ability of all of us, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to achieve great things in this country without the need of special laws designed to benefit people based on their race.

Price completed her year 12 education at the age of 17 while in hospital to give birth to her first child. She left her partner after he bashed her with a lamp. Her aunt and nephew were both murdered.

She rose above all of this. “I got to a point in my life where we had that many deaths in our family. We had that many women traumatised by family violence and children traumatised by family violence. You’re supposed to turn a blind eye to that. And I think I got to a point where I went, ‘I’ve had enough of this’. And I became quite vocal,” she has said.

It was this combination of courage and self-belief that helped propel her into the Senate.

Last weekend she wrote in a newspaper column that “to enshrine a voice to parliament is to enshrine the notion Aboriginal Australia will forever be marginalised and will forever need special measures pertaining to our race”.

That, surely, cuts to the heart of it. The “Voice” proposal infers Indigenous people need the paternalistic white fella to look out for them. It says they can’t make it on their own.

Walk through any shopping mall on a busy Saturday morning and you will see the examples of people who have come to this country, sometimes in the most trying of circumstances, and made a home for themselves and their families.

There is no shortage of people who want to come and live here and be part of our nation because of the opportunities that it offers, the same opportunities offered to all of us regardless of race.

Any proposal to create a special class of citizens runs contrary to the concept of equality that underpins our society. People are equal or they are not. You can’t have it both ways and espouse equality and then demand privilege.

Price has said branding people who oppose the voice as racist and uncaring is un-Australian.

As the senator said: “It’s OK to say ‘No’.”