Paging u/bamboozler1, the Aussie-in-exile, for his thoughts on this because TBH care more about hearing what he has to say than anything else since he posted about the run up to this and now that it's done, and not in the way the Aus Gov were wanting it to go, I want to know what he thinks about this result specifically and what it might mean more generally for Australia.
Honestly, this result is somewhat of a white-pill, a nice point that their propaganda isn't as unbreakable as what was once believed. I've also enjoyed looking at the electorate breakdowns (best one I've found I'll link below, I know it's The Guardian, but it's the only way to view the interactable map), and it's been enjoyable to see that the most white areas that have the least interaction with Aboriginals and other non-white demographics (AKA NIMBY's) are the ones that were most likely to vote "yes". On top of this, outside inner-city predominantly white areas, most areas are pretty evenly representative of the rest of the nation, that being roughly only 35-40% supported the yes vote, key exceptions being inner city Melbourne, Canberra (politician central), and inner city Sydney.
Meanwhile, you look at places like Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland, often considered the states more likely to have higher populations of Aboriginal people, and you'll see that they're the states with lower numbers of "yes" support, with NT in specific being interesting currently sitting at 38% yes vote, and often considered The Aboriginal State, containing both Darwin and Alice Springs that have much higher numbers than other cities in Australia.
The reality is that nobody wanted this. Even the lefties pushing it were just pushing current thing and couldn't give any information about how "The Voice" would operate beyond "they'll make representations". What's a "representation"? Who the fuck knows!? But they can make them! On top of this, as an organisation that would be enshrined within our Constitution, the taxpayer would be paying the members salaries. How many members? Again, who the fuck knows!? There are over 100 different recognised tribes of Aboriginals in Australia, to have one member from each would rival House of Representatives (151 seats) and surpassing the Senate (71 seats).
The lack of clarity for even the layperson was too much. Nobody knew what it was, and that was obviously part of the design, and people saw it.
Now, the negative. Just because this vote failed, doesn't mean The Voice cannot exist. Technically, Local government shouldn't exist in Australia, but it does. In fact, this went to referendum twice. Once in 1977, and again in 1988. Both failed, with ~47% and ~34% voting in favour respectively. These were with regards to to:
Local Government Bodies
to give the Commonwealth powers to borrow money for, and to make financial assistance grants directly to, any local government body
and
Local Government
to recognise local government in the Constitution
respectively. Since then, Australia has and maintains local governments and councils, and grants are routinely given to said organisations.
Now this isn't as vile as a race based apartheid ruling, and some here might agree with the idea of local councils, but Australians certainly didn't, and the government lost both times, but went ahead with it anyway. Meaning that this "Voice" could very well be a thing in the future.
So as much as this is a whitepill, a nice relief from the shitshow of everything, including just how pozzed the average Aussie ultimately is, it's not a nail in the coffin. I wish it were. Albanese might have put a nail in his run to re-elect as Prime Minister and could get voted out next election, but the opposition (The Liberal Party) aren't really anything to praise and neither are any of Albo's fellow party members (Labor Party).
Overall, it's a mixed bag. It's somewhat of a win, but I remain doubting that this is in any way the end of those efforts.
I'm kinda disappointed. A lot of people who voted No around me still did still on the basis that they understood this referendum as one based on racial division.
They never even bothered to go to the voice.gov.au website and view the actual constitution amendment proposal and see this sham vote for what it was
I'm happy that No won, but kinda upset that many people still got played into taking sides without seeing the bigger picture - that it was a power play
Paging u/bamboozler1, the Aussie-in-exile, for his thoughts on this because TBH care more about hearing what he has to say than anything else since he posted about the run up to this and now that it's done, and not in the way the Aus Gov were wanting it to go, I want to know what he thinks about this result specifically and what it might mean more generally for Australia.
Previous thread on this:
https://kotakuinaction2.win/p/16c2MsQK2K/thought-this-deserved-a-post-of-/c/
Not Bamboozler, but am another Aussie.
Honestly, this result is somewhat of a white-pill, a nice point that their propaganda isn't as unbreakable as what was once believed. I've also enjoyed looking at the electorate breakdowns (best one I've found I'll link below, I know it's The Guardian, but it's the only way to view the interactable map), and it's been enjoyable to see that the most white areas that have the least interaction with Aboriginals and other non-white demographics (AKA NIMBY's) are the ones that were most likely to vote "yes". On top of this, outside inner-city predominantly white areas, most areas are pretty evenly representative of the rest of the nation, that being roughly only 35-40% supported the yes vote, key exceptions being inner city Melbourne, Canberra (politician central), and inner city Sydney.
Meanwhile, you look at places like Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland, often considered the states more likely to have higher populations of Aboriginal people, and you'll see that they're the states with lower numbers of "yes" support, with NT in specific being interesting currently sitting at 38% yes vote, and often considered The Aboriginal State, containing both Darwin and Alice Springs that have much higher numbers than other cities in Australia.
The reality is that nobody wanted this. Even the lefties pushing it were just pushing current thing and couldn't give any information about how "The Voice" would operate beyond "they'll make representations". What's a "representation"? Who the fuck knows!? But they can make them! On top of this, as an organisation that would be enshrined within our Constitution, the taxpayer would be paying the members salaries. How many members? Again, who the fuck knows!? There are over 100 different recognised tribes of Aboriginals in Australia, to have one member from each would rival House of Representatives (151 seats) and surpassing the Senate (71 seats).
The lack of clarity for even the layperson was too much. Nobody knew what it was, and that was obviously part of the design, and people saw it.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2023/oct/14/live-voice-referendum-results-2023-tracker-australia-yes-no-votes-by-state-australian-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-who-won-is-winning-winner-map-counts-aec-latest-result
Now, the negative. Just because this vote failed, doesn't mean The Voice cannot exist. Technically, Local government shouldn't exist in Australia, but it does. In fact, this went to referendum twice. Once in 1977, and again in 1988. Both failed, with ~47% and ~34% voting in favour respectively. These were with regards to to:
and
respectively. Since then, Australia has and maintains local governments and councils, and grants are routinely given to said organisations.
Now this isn't as vile as a race based apartheid ruling, and some here might agree with the idea of local councils, but Australians certainly didn't, and the government lost both times, but went ahead with it anyway. Meaning that this "Voice" could very well be a thing in the future.
So as much as this is a whitepill, a nice relief from the shitshow of everything, including just how pozzed the average Aussie ultimately is, it's not a nail in the coffin. I wish it were. Albanese might have put a nail in his run to re-elect as Prime Minister and could get voted out next election, but the opposition (The Liberal Party) aren't really anything to praise and neither are any of Albo's fellow party members (Labor Party).
Overall, it's a mixed bag. It's somewhat of a win, but I remain doubting that this is in any way the end of those efforts.
I'm kinda disappointed. A lot of people who voted No around me still did still on the basis that they understood this referendum as one based on racial division.
They never even bothered to go to the voice.gov.au website and view the actual constitution amendment proposal and see this sham vote for what it was
I'm happy that No won, but kinda upset that many people still got played into taking sides without seeing the bigger picture - that it was a power play