Compelling case for our colourblind Constitution

Just when you think Greg Sheridan’s scholarly journalist bar can’t be raised any higher, he goes and raises it with his latest piece (“Successful No vote would be a victory for democracy”, 29/08).

Sheridan makes a key point that, if successful, the 2023 referendum would reinsert racial categories into our Constitution that the 1967 referendum had removed, yet we are, as he is spot-on to say, “one of the least racist nations on earth”.

Sheridan’s brilliant piece could indeed be summarised by Tony Abbott’s recent one-liner: “We want our country and our Constitution to be entirely colourblind.”

Mandy Macmillan, Singleton, NSW

I want to express my deep appreciation for Greg Sheridan’s piece in The Australian. Thank you, Greg. Yes, a win for the No vote will be a colossal vote of no confidence in the campaign to convince Australians that this is a modest change to the Constitution.

I am now in the elderly category so nobody is going to bother attempting to change my opinion. My mother was generally a Labor supporter but, as a World War II law graduate, she treasured our present Constitution. The ultimate power is now with the Australian people, not the activist class. Let us who represent a fair-minded, non-racist country stand up and be counted.

Joanna Baevski, Alphington, Vic

If ever there was a case to be made against the voice referendum, Greg Sheridan has made it. It should become the anthem for a united Australia where there are no racial divides and a helping hand goes out to everyone who needs it.

Never before have I seen big business and the institutions so frantic to jump on board and fund a one-sided “information” campaign.

Anthony Albanese’s latest marketing ploy is to sell the voice as being all about recognition, but that’s just the most recent tactic to con us because recognition gets a tick from us even while it is dismissed by the Indigenous activists who authored the voice.

They have said they don’t want a recognition provision in the Constitution, and that is what the voice is not.

Tony Mussert, Somerville, WA

I dispute Greg Sheridan’s claim that the Yes campaign is not a grassroots movement. I am part of a passionate group of volunteers who are committed to supporting the voice in our local community. We are giving our time to this cause not because business leaders or politicians or elites have told us to but because Indigenous Australians themselves have asked for a voice and we want to support this gesture of reconciliation.

The First Peoples of Australia have a unique place at the heart of this country’s history and culture. Recognising this in our Constitution and providing a mechanism for Indigenous input into policies that affect their lives is a simple action that will help to make Australia a fairer and more equal country.

The voice will not take away anybody’s rights. It does not need to be divisive. It is simply about listening to the world’s oldest living culture. Australian voters will make up their own minds about the referendum. I hope they hear the gracious invitation in the Uluru statement to walk together to a better future.

Emma Smith, Brunswick West, Vic

Three cheers for Greg Sheridan, whose timely and comprehensive report on the voice debate exhibits a courage to match that of the quartet he mentioned in his report: senator Jacinta Price, businessman Warren Mundine, Nationals leader David Littleproud and Liberal leader Peter Dutton. Without any of these and others of their ilk the No case may well have been obscured by the big institutions, including government, business and academe, as well as by others in positions of power, to say nothing of the relentless abuse and denigration plainly apparent in the progress of this divisive national issue. This referendum is a vote for a common and universal vision of humanity in which all Australians enjoy the same civic status regardless of their race or background. A departure from that vision would be a national tragedy.

Ian Dunlop, Hawks Nest, NSW