Indigenous voice to parliament: Yes leaders who mourn referendum loss must work for unity

Yes leaders who mourn the referendum loss must work for unity

The assertion by the Yes camp that it will continue to press ahead with its claims that the “ownership” of Australia rests with the various Indigenous clans who inhabited the land prior to British settlement is unfortunate and will only cause unnecessary bitterness. The referendum result brings to the fore the fascinating subject of proprietary. The custom that ownership rights can be bought or sold has only been the case for a relatively short time in the modern world.

Noelle Oke, Albury, NSW

The Australian’s editorial could not have been more explicit on reconciliation (“Angry words will not close the gap on understanding”, 24/10). Earlier this year, I wrote to the paper agreeing with Paul Kelly – who forensically shredded the Yes campaign – saying “I doubted that reconciliation will occur as long as the present activists remain”. You don’t have to be Nostradamus to recognise the damage the Yes people will inflict on further negotiations, which is a great pity for Indigenous Australians. The referendum result was definitive. Please accept it.

Lesley Beckhouse, Queanbeyan, ACT

It is little surprise Indigenous leaders are angry; claims that colonisation has been good for Indigenous people – rightly described by reporter Sarah Ison as contentious – has brought that anger to a head for me (“ ‘There’s no shame in gap’: Blainey”, 21-22/10). The simple fact of the distress experienced in Indigenous communities from high rates of family separation and of incarceration and resultant suicide belies these claims.

Craig Brown, Eaglehawk Neck, Tas

Remembering Hayden

Troy Bramston’s tribute to the late Bill Hayden is both well-deserved and entertaining, especially with regard to his subject’s relationship with Bob Hawke (“Bill Hayden, who died at age 90, was a man of decency and integrity”, 24/10).

It is regrettable that these qualities are not more highly regarded in leaders today – with charisma and gravitas being preferred. Yet Hayden’s assessment of Hawke – the ALP’s most successful leader ever – that his popularity defied rational understanding, reads as frank and without bitterness. For me, Hayden stands beside Peter Walsh, the gritty finance minister in the Hawke team, as one who put the national interest first, ahead of special interests and jostling for power and perks and limelight.

John Morrissey, Hawthorn, Vic

It’s worth remembering that, as Labor opposition leader, Bill Hayden surprised many in 1983 when he appointed Paul Keating as his shadow treasurer. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Peter Kennedy, Mt Lawley, WA

Vale Bill Hayden. He was a former Queensland policeman who won the seat of Oxley in 1961 and retired from politics in 1988. As minister for social security in the Whitlam government, he was the architect for introducing Australia’s first universal health insurance scheme Medibank, and pensions for single mothers.

Thank you, Bill Hayden, for an enduring health insurance scheme that has been so popular and beneficial for generations of Australian people.

Kenneth Gregson, Swansea, Tas

Statue wars

Yvonne Weldon, Sydney Council’s first Indigenous councillor, is pushing for truth-telling regarding various Sydney landmarks (“Indigenous councillor urges review of ‘offensive’ colonial statues, plaques”, 24/10). During the summer of 2020 statues of historical figures were pulled down to purify the past, but for true history there must be memory, which demands we acknowledge the past, even if it is shameful. Our past is what and who we are. History is what it was, not what we want it to be.

Margaret Elder, Moss Vale, NSW

Biased reporting

With events around Israel and the referendum in the past week, it would be easy to overlook a serious issue within our public broadcaster. First, the ABC’s Middle East correspondent, Tom Joyner, labelled reports about babies being beheaded by Hamas as “bullshit”. On Sunday, the host of the ABC’s youth radio network – one who remains anonymous by calling himself Nooky – played one song on repeat for an hour as protest for the defeat of the Yes campaign. Here we have two individuals who have apparently joined the ABC with the intent of promoting their own ideological bent. Contrary to the charter of the ABC, these individuals have no idea or interest in “balance”. It follows they have no respect for their employers and, importantly, their audience.

On what basis must Australian taxpayers pay their salaries or offer them opportunity? Australians are entitled – indeed responsible – for calling for accountability. When will our government deliver that accountability regarding the ABC?

Geoff Ellis, Smithfield, Qld