Indigenous Voice to Parliament

[stui magpie]

Albo isn't wasting any time, he's proposing a referendum on creating an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, as per the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-31/ ... /101285958

Credit where it's due, I clearly underestimated ole Joints (Elbow-Kneesy) because this is actually good stuff.

I quite like the form of the proposal.

The starting point, Mr Albanese says, is a recommendation to add three sentences to the Constitution:

1. There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

2. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to parliament and the executive government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

3. The parliament shall, subject to this constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

I like the thinking. Rather than be prescriptive in detail, put in the constitution that a Voice shall exist and that it's role is (limited) to making representations to parliament .

How the voice may be contructed, whether a panel or committee or whatever, how the people are selected, how long they remain involved etc etc and all the other detail that people may want is best left out as it may need to change from time to time. Ole Joints is using the language framing it as a consultative committee (which is pure old school Labor) without actually using the term, but he's framing it well and I think he's being very smart which is not really something we can say about many of the (multitude of) PM's we've had in the past 15 years.

Even down to the proposed referendum question.

Do you support an alteration to the constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?

You'd have to think that the majority of people would agree with that question, the dissent is all about the detail which you'll never get majority agreement on, so leaving it to the Parliament to legislate the details is smart. It means the form of the voice can and will change depending on Government of the day and according to needs, but it's existence is enshrined.

He's effectively wedged both the Greens and the Lib/Nats who for different reasons had different issues with the Voice.

Gutsy, smart call. Not something I've said about a Labor politician since Keating was PM.

[roar]

Great work by Albo but LNP already making noises against the proposal. Teals going to gain more ground, methinks.

[David]

[Skids]

A different view from a senator...

"I'll be completely honest: there are more pressing issues," Senator Price said before listing promises about education funding for the Yipirinya School in Alice Springs and issues about alcohol making its way back into Indigenous communities.

"I have listened to and spoke to the Yipirinya school in Alice Springs," she said.

"The commitment I made to them if I were to get into government was to build a facility for student and staff accommodation.

"That school looks after Aboriginal kids in the surrounding town camps, and they come from very difficult backgrounds. Some of them have to spend a three-hour round trip to go to school."

Senator Price then added she believed a Voice would suggest that Indigenous Australians were always going to be marginalised.

"I wouldn't want to see us divided up along the lines of race in that regard, and I don't want to continue to pour money into an industry that has been driven on the back of the misery of Indigenous Australians and propping up another bureaucracy," she said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-01/ ... /101290202

[stui magpie]

There's always the risk of another bureaucratic money pit that achieves nothing, but that will be up to Governments to manage as the form of the voice won't be in the constitution.

While I get the concept of "more pressing issues", that misses the point that this isn't an either/or. No one has to stop working on things that currently need fixing while this happens. it's not a replacement or a panacea, it's not going to drain resources from other initiatives.

A good article I read, that I now can't find, said how many of the well e policies fail because they are imposed upon the communities with not enough genuine consultation.

It's not going to be an easy sell, but I hope it gets up.

[stui magpie]

So Albo got Shaq involved in the marketing. Not sure of who asked who what, but doesn't seem to have quite hit the mark.

I don't have a problem with leveraging off famous sports persons, not sure if anyone under 30 appreciates what Shaq did on the court or if they just know him as the sportsbet bloke from the ads.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-29/ ... /101381066

Thoughts on how this is progressing?

[Skids]

The senator voiced my thoughts on the stunt.

[David]

So Albo got Shaq involved in the marketing. Not sure of who asked who what, but doesn't seem to have quite hit the mark.

I don't have a problem with leveraging off famous sports persons, not sure if anyone under 30 appreciates what Shaq did on the court or if they just know him as the sportsbet bloke from the ads.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-29/ ... /101381066

Thoughts on how this is progressing?

Would love to know what focus group was cooked up to give this cameo the seal of approval. Sounds like a classic Labor own goal to me.

[stui magpie]

I can take Price's views better than lidia Thorpe, she strikes me as an oxygen thief.

I hope this doesn't become a circus.

[David]

[David]

[watt price tully]

RMIT fact checking unit:

The proposed indigenous voice to Parliament will not confer special powers that the reactionary rump of the No campaign is promoting (funded in part by the radical extremist IPA - a part of the Liberal party).

https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/factlab-me ... onfer--spe

[stui magpie]

Albo needs to step up to the plate.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/deta ... 5ccds.html

[What'sinaname]

Albo has stepped up to the plate, or at least stepped onto the plane to deal with the surge in alcohol related crime and violence by aboriginals in Alice Springs, since the removal of the discriminatory alcohol ban.

[stui magpie]

"discriminatory" alcohol ban, yet it clearly worked.

Is it right to change a law for ideological reasons when the evidence strongly shows that the law had helped achieve it's desired purpose?

I really hope The Voice referendum gets up, in the currently suggested form which lets Parliament legislate how it works which means they can tweak and change it when they inevitably **** it up in the first few goes or as time passes and revamp is required.

I'm losing confidence in Albo's ability to achieve that.