Jeff Kennett: Voting No to the Voice is merely a matter of principle
Do Australians want our Constitution to give one section of our community special access and influence with the government above all other citizens? This is the matter of principle we must decide on October 14.
Opinion
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Only one matter of principle will be decided at the referendum on October 14.
Do we as Australians want our Constitution to give one section of our community special access and influence with the federal government above all other citizens?
Or should our Constitution treat all people equally? As Australians today we cannot change the past, but as citizens living today we can affect the opportunities for ourselves, and those of Australians born in the future.
Australia’s population today is very different from what it was in 1788 when white settlement began. It is very different from when the Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901. Our population is certainly very different from post-World War II when immigration greatly expanded.
It is even very different again from after the Vietnam War when so many new arrivals came from a much more diverse range of countries.
For those of us born in Australia, and those who have chosen to live here, we call Australia home.
Most of those who left their place of birth chose Australia because of our egalitarianism, our rule of law, freedom of speech, but importantly the opportunities that could be realised through solid effort.
Today, Australia belongs to us all equally, and increasingly so.
The referendum attempts, by changing our Constitution, to include an Indigenous Voice to the Parliament, in part to make good for white settlement in 1788.
The referendum seeks to give the ancestors, our current Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders and their children, a special place of influence and representation with the federal government of the day over all other Australians.
That I suggest is inappropriate, unfair, and discriminates against all other Australians.
We should all be treated equally through and by our Constitution.
That is the matter of principle that we must decide on October 14.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, by rolling two questions into one, that is, recognition of our Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders, and the Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the Constitution, is at risk of losing both when the community votes.
This is the PM’s own goal.
Had the PM divided the question into two, one being recognition and the other the establishment of the Voice to the Parliament through the Constitution, I am sure the first would have succeeded; the second I doubt, but at least we would have generously recognised our first settlers in our Constitution.
This referendum is not like the one held in 1967 when Australians understandably agreed that Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders should be counted as part of our population, and that the commonwealth should be able to make laws for them.
Our agreement to those changes removed from our Constitution the very real discrimination against our first settlers.
Now the PM is wanting to return positive discrimination to our Constitution, this time by discriminating against all non-Indigenous Australians, in fact 96.6 per cent of our population.
There are many other issues being raised in the current debate, but the fundamental question is one of equality within the Constitution.
The fact that we don’t know how a Voice would work concerns many.
Will the recommendations of the Calma-Langton report be adopted, or will Mr Albanese appoint the noisiest advocates for the Voice to its administration?
My experience with the Indigenous community – given there are hundreds of mobs or tribes and groups – is that one solution will never suit all, and therefore where problems exist they have to be locally addressed. Of course, not all Indigenous men and women are doing it tough, but so many like to think and speak of the community as all being in total need.
Indigenous leader Noel Pearson recently said, “Give us a say in the decisions that are made about us ... by having a voice we will be responsible for closing the gap”.
Can I remind Mr Pearson there are so many Indigenous groups and individuals currently advising governments who already have a voice?
I am voting No to the one question because I have no alternative.
I am voting to uphold that the Constitution should be for all Australians equally.
I want my grandchildren to have the same access to the federal government as every other Australian citizen, regardless of age, colour or heritage.
I am tired of Australian corporates and sporting bodies spending millions of dollars telling me or suggesting how I should vote. Corporates don’t vote. Individuals do.
Even worse, some advocates for a Yes vote suggest that by voting No we are racist.
I am not. I am voting No because I believe the Constitution should be for all Australians.
It’s a matter of principle.
Jeff Kennett is a former premier of Victoria
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