Face it, we are home to two nations, so let’s give the Indigenous voice a chance to speak

John Allsop (Letters, 26/5) refers readers to my book The Politics of Suffering for arguments warning against embedding race in Australia’s formal structures. Those arguments are still worth contemplating.

But, as events have moved on, so have I. Thirteen years on from The Politics of Suffering, without a formal voice in the Constitution, race has nevertheless expanded massively to permeate our media, the arts, academia, industry and the rest. Opportunities for fame, high appointments and fashion awards expand on the de facto basis of our already having two nations.

Along with the perpetual legal standing of native title holders, these cultural changes have made it less and less likely that we may ever become a unified people who disregard each other’s ancestries for purposes of governance.

At the same time, Indigenous identity has become such an attractive option that false claims to it now abound. This race-shifting is plentifully shared by people in other ex-British colonies.

In North America, the false pretenders are called, by some, “pretendians”.

Constitutional change, and a formal First Nations voice, are now needed to channel Indigenous political thinking to a place where it must be heard. The best unity we can hope for is respect and conversation, not sameness. We will have to cop the forces of difference.

One of the voice’s first responsibilities could be to advise the Australian people on who is ­Indigenous to Australia and why. The composition of the voice’s membership itself has raised this question.

The voice, among other things, must provide the advice that will prevent false pretenders stealing the griefs, as well as the heritage, of others.

Peter Sutton, Strathalbyn, SA

When the church gets involved in the affairs of state (“Leap of faith: church leaders united on vow to back voice:, 27/5), it’s time for us to say, hang on, something is not right here; proceed with the utmost caution.

Maybe this is the church’s way of compensating for the stuff-ups it made in managing the Indigenous population in outback missions and the like all those years ago. Whatever it is, I don’t really care – but as a collective, the church needs to keep its grubby little nose out of this one.

The so-called voice has a long way to go. If the Albanese government thinks this will be plain sailing through a referendum, it needs to think again. Many Australians see flashing amber, if not red, lights with this initiative and will be more than a little reluctant to wave it through.

There are more and more Indigenous folk being elected to federal parliament; they already have ample representation. And by the way, equality applies to all of us, not just the Indigenous population.

John George, Terrigal, NSW

I notice that Scott and Jenny Morrison allowed a family, whose house was destroyed in the floods, to stay rent free in their home (23/5) while he was in the Lodge. This was discovered by chance. So, to all you ScoMo haters, I have this to say: There is so much bad in the best of us, and so much good in the worst of us, that it hardly behoves any of us to talk about the rest of us.

Dr Peter Krige, Goodwood, SA

The best laugh I got all week was watching Penny Wong earnestly telling the Fijians and the Pacific Island Forum that Australia would give them $25 million in aid over four years.

The Chinese have likely already slipped Pacific Island leaders a brown paper bag full of readies to the tune of at least that or more.

Phillip Ormerod, Palmwoods, Qld

About a year ago, China’s President Xi Jinping issued a decree that all Chinese companies involved in the design and construction of infrastructure projects outside of China must make them military capable. So, all harbours, airfields and so on must be built so that they have a capability and capacity to accept and service the various branches of the Chinese military: army, navy and air force.

This seems to contradict China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s statement that “China has no intention at all” to build a military base in Solomon Islands.

Labor, and in particular Penny Wong, need to keep a very close eye on what goes on in the Pacific. The Chinese Communist Party can be very sneaky.

Christopher Jay, Hackney, SA

Any nation that, mass shooting after mass shooting, continues to cling tenaciously to a “right to keep and bear arms” which allows practically anyone to purchase multiple military-grade assault weapons definitely has a mental health problem.

Deborah Morrison, Malvern East, Vic