Yunupingu would divide the nation, not integrate it

The respected Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu has given Australia an example of what we can expect by enshrining an indigenous voice to parliament and in the Constitution.

As quoted by Paige Taylor (“Fix Constitution or we’ll throw it into sea”, 3/8), Yunupingu said: “If they don’t come to us with an answer, we will tell you what we are going to do, the Yolngu people will do ... We will dismiss the Constitution ... we thrown it out of Australia into the saltwater.”

If this is an example of what we can expect form the voice, it will divide the Australian nation, not integrate it. It will not be helpful for us all as we reconcile ourselves to the many truths underlying modern Australia’s formation.

All Australians freely value their historical cultural roots but proudly integrate these into our evolving national identity.

Neil Hucker, Box Hill, Vic

I understand Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has said that the enshrining of an Aboriginal voice in the Constitution is “vital”. I am at a loss to understand why any Australian race requires a special voice in a document that all of us own as a free society. Do we need special voices for Muslims, Chinese, Japanese, Indians and Europeans?

I don’t think so. To me, Albanese’s proposal smells like racism where one race is given special privileges above all the rest.

I reject Albanese’s move because we are all Australians and equal before our Constitution. An acknowledgment of Aboriginal heritage in the constitutional preamble is all that is necessary.

Tony Young, Blackbutt, Qld

Galarrwuy Yunupingu’s stated intention to sue the commonwealth for royalties in retrospect comes at a time when indigenous people are asking wider Australia to embrace constitutional change that will give them a greater say in national affairs.

To many non-indigenous people this will not only be deemed offensive but outright hostile.

If the indigenous population expect non-indigenous people to roll over and accept their demands for a constitutionally enshrined voice in the parliament while they carry on such hostility towards the Constitution, they should think again. Right now the indigenous minority is biting the hand that feeds them.

John George, Terrigal, NSW

There is no barrier to social equality in Australia to any group willing to work within the dominant social norms in relation to health, welfare and education, but social preservation of sub-optimal structures and behaviours will lead only to the sort of problems being experienced in remote indigenous communities with a chronic recurrence of disadvantage specifically aligned with the unwillingness of elements of the indigenous community to adapt to modern societal structures and norms. Australia spends about $33 billion a year on indigenous affairs — indigenous per capita expenditure of more than $45,000 — and still the problems exist.

Indigenous community members must as a whole look at their own internal behavioural and social standards and stop blaming everybody else for their misfortune.

Greg Angelo, Balwyn North, Vic

Those who are wondering how the reconciliation process will pan out should consider a tale from the bad old days of industrial relations. After a prolonged strike, so the story goes, the union delegate announces the capitulation of management: every item of a log of claims has been granted.

“And best of all, brothers, from now on we only work Wednesdays.” As the cheering subsides, the muttering starts, and finally, a bloke up the back calls out: “What, every bloody Wednesday?”

No nation has ever approached the task of redressing the historical wrongs attendant on colonisation in better faith or with more willingness to commit resources than Australia, but be assured that this debt will never be discharged to the satisfaction of professional victims who know a good thing when they see one.

Terry Birchley, Bundaberg, Qld

Statements from the heart may be well meaning but calls for a treaty have me puzzled. Humans born in Australia are made Australian citizens at birth. With whom are Australians going to endorse a treaty and what does that other party have to offer to Australians for doing so?

Max Ball, Mosman Park, WA