discussion Australia's Voice referendum (Oct 14 2023)

[Genius1111]

Indigenous Voice: First polls close in Australia's historic referendum - BBC News

 

Election officers have started tallying votes in states where polling has closed.

A partial tally by the National Electoral Commission, based on 1,394 of 8,253 total precincts, shows No leading Yes with 58.04% versus 41.96%.

[Harrier]

Predictably the referendum has been defeated. I hope that my state of Victoria can at least pull through with a moral victory and be the only state to vote yes

It's a very, very sad day for our country as far as I'm concerned

[She-Rah]

What is the referendum about ? 

[Zolanski.]

So embarrassed to be an Australian right now. 

[Mordecai]

As a Kiwi it's pretty clear that Australia's still far away from Aboriginals getting any real representation in government. It's only been in the last couple of years that I've seen people start to openly embrace their culture

 

Not sure how much practical effect it would've had tbh. We have something called the Waitangi Tribunal here in NZ that has a somewhat similar function to that proposed by the Voice and like that proposition, they can only make recommendations and nothing legally binding, and there have been several times where the government have gone directly against Tribunal findings and it caused SO much controversy

[Anthinos]

17 minutes ago, qegqeg said:

It was basically to give our Indigenous population direct representation in federal parliament to advise the government on policies, bills, etc related to their communities

How could anyone vote against that? I saw some of the arguments and sorry but those arguments against it are just bs. So sad. 

[americanshameless]

55 minutes ago, qegqeg said:

It was basically to give our Indigenous population direct representation in federal parliament to advise the government on policies, bills, etc related to their communities

They need a referendum for that?

 

The most failed and irrelevant state in the Anglo  

Edited October 14, 2023 by americanshameless

[Mordecai]

50 minutes ago, Anthinos said:

How could anyone vote against that? I saw some of the arguments and sorry but those arguments against it are just bs. So sad. 

Australia is probably the worst country in the anglosphere when it comes to indigenous rights. Aboriginals only got the right to vote in the 60s 

[Letemtalk]

1 hour ago, Mordecai said:

As a Kiwi it's pretty clear that Australia's still far away from Aboriginals getting any real representation in government. It's only been in the last couple of years that I've seen people start to openly embrace their culture

 

Not sure how much practical effect it would've had tbh. We have something called the Waitangi Tribunal here in NZ that has a somewhat similar function to that proposed by the Voice and like that proposition, they can only make recommendations and nothing legally binding, and there have been several times where the government have gone directly against Tribunal findings and it caused SO much controversy

The same people funding the "No" vote in Australia were supporting National and Act and their policies in NZ.

Looks like they won in both countries.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Network

 

Quote

It has been noted for ties to the tobacco and fossil fuel industries.^{[12][13][8][14]}

Quote

Atlas Network has had close ties to oil and gas producers.^[14] It collaborated with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in a push for oil and gas development on Indigenous land, according to documents described in The Guardian.^[8]

 

[HEAVYONIT]

It’s so sad when native populations are shunned out and considered irrelevant. I’m American so I know how that goes, but was optimistically hoping Australians would be more liberal.

[FOCK]

Incredibly disappointing, but I’m sadly not surprised. I voted after work today & had to side step a bunch of hags sitting at the entrance on folding chairs with “no” signs & I’m in quite a progressive area, or so I thought. 
 

The Australian media is the absolute pits. I was overwhelmed with targeted ads & paid influencer videos on social media platforms, urging people to vote “no” leading up to today & very rarely came across material advocating otherwise. 

[Robert]

Really disappointing result. I really hoped for more from Australia. 

[Punky Rooster]

We really are a racist and regressive country 

[DuffStan]

What an embarrassment, ACT being the only to vote yes I just can't

[chessguy99]

The Yes supporters did a poor job of selling the referendum. There wasn't even universal support among the First Nations, some considered it to be a feel good measure which contained no real plan to help them.

[Harrier]

15 minutes ago, chessguy99 said:

The Yes supporters did a poor job of selling the referendum. There wasn't even universal support among the First Nations, some considered it to be a feel good measure which contained no real plan to help them.

This is true, our far-left also voted no because it wasn't enough for them. The two strongest voices in our country against the Voice were both indigenous women, one very conservative and one so far left that she left the green party 

 

I do agree that the Yes campaign was poorly run and there was not enough detail about what the voice would be like. Overall it's a predictable result but it's still a shame to see it

[Saint James]

2 hours ago, Harrier said:

I do agree that the Yes campaign was poorly run and there was not enough detail about what the voice would be like. Overall it's a predictable result but it's still a shame to see it

i don't think anyone actually knows tbh. they're making this **** up as they go along. the no argument is that the elected reps won't accurately reflect the community and be government puppets, and I understand that. the thing is, if we vote no they can still do that anyway. they can pull any string they want for that outcome. it took me far longer than it should have to find a reason to vote yes, but i eventually got to the bottom of it.