Rita Panahi: Five reasons to vote No to Voice

In the past week alone we’ve seen multiple examples highlighting the racial division and privilege the Yes camp wants enshrined in the Constitution.

There are a multitude of good reasons to reject the race-based referendum. Just in the past week we’ve seen more reasons to vote No to the racial division and privilege the Yes camp wants enshrined in the Constitution. Here are just five:

1. Listen to Teela Reid, a member of the Prime Minister’s Referendum Engagement Group on the Voice, who has said the Voice should be “the first step in redistributing power”.

She has also called Australia “a nation without a soul” and one that is synonymous with racism.

Indigenous lawyer Teela Reid. Picture: Brad Hunter

Reid also wants “reparations” aka more of your money going to unaccountable Indigenous groups.

I applaud her for saying the quiet bits out loud.

Keep talking, Teela.

2. Standing with the race activists are Australia’s biggest corporates, including Coles.

You cannot even shop for overpriced groceries without being confronted with signs declaring the supermarket giant supports the Voice.

Of course, the explanation is bereft of substance, ending with “no matter how you identify, who you love or where you’re from, you are always welcome at our table”.

Unless, presumably, you are one of the majority of Australians who intend to vote No.

Coles is standing with race activists.

3. It’s little wonder that support for the Voice is weakest in Western Australia, where only

39 per cent intend to vote Yes, according to the latest Newspoll.

They are already getting a taste of what this agenda entails with the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, creating a new and costly bureaucracy for landholders, with blocks as small as 1100sq m affected.

One residential block owner was quoted $20,000 for an Aboriginal heritage survey and fears the acre he bought just two years ago in Exmouth might now be “worthless”.

4. Also in WA was the farcical situation whereby the opening of a $232m freeway was delayed due to a fight between two Traditional Owners about who had the right to conduct the smoking ceremony, with one saying to the other: “I don’t need permission from you or anybody else; this is my country, too.”

Amen, brother, amen. That’s precisely how I feel.

Traditional owners argue over smoking ceremony at opening of Mitchell Freeway Extension in Perth. Picture: 7 News

5. Expect to see more ugly identity politics in schools if the Yes camp prevails, though there’s plenty of that already including Cheltenham Secondary College making students who opt for a puffer jacket to advertise the political symbology of the rainbow and Aboriginal flags.

Just say No.