What the actual f**k Australia? When it comes to politics I am very left leaning and the echo chambers I frequent tend to be left aligned. Oh, aaaaaand I might not have voted. The final count was 39.94% Yes and 60.06% No; the screenshot above shows an earlier tally. But what the hell are we doing voting no on something that I believed could benefit First Nations people without taking anything away from anyone else?

The right rambles on about equality while seeding fear, uncertainty and doubt. Are we actually that gullible to believe the crap spewing from the right, i.e. the Liberal-National Coalition. Apparently, yes we are.

Oh but we’re already all considered equals they shout. Yeah? I’ll let you know how equal we are when I get my intergenerational inheritance - fun fact: there isn’t one. So I’ll happily die poor. Equality? We don’t have it. It’s not here. If I can’t be equal in my own society, how in the hell are the First People supposed to cope?

To me, it was never about equality. I saw far too much of it as thinly veiled racism that we failed to stop.

Here’s the great city of Sydney, my home and a place I can barely afford to live anymore. Every week I’m alive, I’m running at a loss. And maybe it’s time to leave but then again, my area managed to vote in the right direction, a pale yes vote.

But what of these no voters? Was this just a census for how racist and bigoted we are as Australians? If so the outer suburbs of Sydney are doing their part and regional New South Wales even more so. Please don’t get me started on Queensland… bunch of backwater bumpkins!

Why did I fail to vote? I wanted to do a postal vote but after looking at the requirements I didn’t think I fitted them. Looking back at the actual 2023 AEC rules, they included serious illness, infirmity and a reasonable fear for personal wellbeing or safety. Whether my circumstances fitted one of those grounds was not something I worked through at the time. Instead I chose to go in person, have a panic attack, escape the voting area and not return all day. Great to see the pregabalin I’ve been prescribed not quite working right for anxiety. Works great for sleep, but that’s about it.

When it comes to things like our constitution I am generally out of the loop. Proposed section 129 would have put into the Constitution that “there shall be a body” called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Parliament would still have controlled its composition, functions, powers and procedures, so a future government could have changed or restricted how it operated. It could not simply have abolished the constitutional requirement for the body through ordinary legislation. Removing that requirement would have needed another constitutional alteration and referendum.

I guess I am just disappointed at how we treat our own people. The federal Liberal Party had formally decided to oppose the proposed Voice and campaign for No, joining the Nationals, although not every Liberal politician agreed. I found that position disgusting. The following images show the Voice design principles.

If you find yourself supporting policies of the right, consider how you got there and rethink how you can align your values to be more supportive of others. Why aren’t we more progressive? I do not like where things are going. We are fast becoming the new America, if we aren’t already and I don’t like it one bit. 😕

Sources