Indigenous are unique among us: they are not just another ethnic strand

Tony Abbott has a point (“Recognition is needed but separate Indigenous voice is not”, 6/6). Modern Australia is a nation that was founded upon the dispossession and displacement of the Aboriginal peoples of this land. Citizenship of full standing was opened to all who came here as immigrants, yet the Aboriginal peoples upon whose dispossession and displacement the nation was created were uniquely and categorically excluded.

That is to say: the marginalisation of our First Nations peoples was central to the modern Australian nation’s foundational identity. That history of deprivation and injustice needs to be recognised and redressed at the very foundation of the nation – at its constitutional foundation.

Our First Nation fellow citizens are not just one more, just another, component of Australia’s modern multicultural society. They are unlike all others, all the rest of us. Not “in themselves” but in their historical position and standing.

Their foundational uniqueness in this nation needs constitutional recognition. But for that to happen, we must already be aware of this uniqueness of their position and sensitive to its implications. That is a history and an understanding with which we as a nation must come to terms.

Writing those simple ideas into our Constitution as a necessary preamble may not yet be possible. But it is an awareness that we must inscribe into our hearts and thinking and national self-understanding. Doing so will not in itself remedy all the wounds of history. But unless and until we achieve that recognition and then express it constitutionally, there is no healing of this nation, no way in which we may all live decently with one another and with our past.

Clive S. Kessler, Emeritus Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, University of NSW

In defence of us

I agree with Greg Sheridan (“Welcome to the job, now the hard work on defence begins”, 4-5/6). Australia needs land-based long- and short-range defence right now. Waiting until the demographic changes in the world occur after 2035 is too risky. The Defence Department should be totally engaged in acquisition of 21st-century state-of-the-art weapons, which are proving to the world how lethal they are against armoured ships and tracked and wheeled armoured vehicles. Unmanned missiles, rockets and drones should be the object of defence purchases along with long-range detection and early-warning devices. Some of these new-technology weapons are considerably cheaper than the targets they are turning into scrap metal. They are identifying flaws in older weaponry, outdating it all.

The majority of our population live on the coast, housed in trillions of dollars worth of real estate. The defence priority should be a prohibitive deterrent to any hostile action that protects our people and the coastline from obliteration. Covered by such a ring of modern defences, armoured vehicles and naval craft could trundle around fulfilling their various tasks, with some confidence they have some back-up.

Allies have nothing to do with this. They may not be able to assist, especially if Australia has an open-door policy. This is Australian self-defence and preservation. It is not pro-war activity but a collective defence determination to keep the nation protected in peace.

If you wait until the blast of war blows in your ears you can also expect to hear the sounds of breaking glass and falling beachside buildings.

Nigel Burman, Lota, Qld

Monday, June 6 was the 78th anniversary of the D Day Landings in 1944. I notice that no newspaper, radio or TV channel made a mention of this important event. More than 150,000 American, Canadian and British troops carried out the greatest military invasion in history and in doing so started what was to be the end of the worst war in history. Lest we forget.

Rod Steed, Booragoon, WA

Teachers of woke

I have experience working in two public schools, one primary and one high school, for a combination of eight years. I was privy to many conversations and comments in the staffrooms. The amount of chatter among the teachers was palpable, particularly in relation to politics. One comment that stood out was “we need to get them young so we can spread our magic”. This theme was repeated many times over my eight years’ employment.

Being a quiet Australian, I never reacted to these comments and other virtue-signalling remarks. I can only imagine the woke agendas nowadays being thrust upon our children in the classrooms, particularly primary children who trust what their teachers tell them and are too young to have developed a questioning mind. With 2400 public schools in NSW the clarity of where our children are heading is upsetting in the extreme.

Louise Dunbar, Cammeray, NSW