Peter Dutton needs another referendum to find his Voice

Peter Dutton is confused.

Apparently, he doesn’t "get" the Voice Referendum, which he has repeatedly insisted is too complicated.

Referendum procedures – the same procedures in place at every referendum that request an answer of "yes" or "no" – have suddenly confounded the Opposition Leader as well, such that he wrote to the Electoral Commission for clarification.

Mr Dutton also finds John Farnham’s iconic pop anthem gifted to the "Yes" campaign, 'You're the Voice', far too difficult to understand.

And, since he is doing his best to undermine the Referendum but has now decided to have a second referendum if his efforts succeed in derailing this one, Mr Dutton clearly doesn’t get the mood of the people.

Suffice to say, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton just doesn’t get it.

Let us try and lay this out in words even Mr Dutton can understand.

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The 'no' campaign is distorting the truth on the Voice to Parliament and operating in bad faith, writes Dr Victoria Fielding.

1. WHY A VOICE REFERENDUM

An Indigenous Voice to Parliament was first requested back in 2017, via the Uluru Statement from the Heart, during the excruciatingly long reign of the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison Coalition Governments. The "detail" was even presented to Cabinet, in 2019, by former Liberal Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt — which it promptly ignored.

Mr Dutton was a Cabinet Minister throughout that time. He has had at least six years to familiarise himself with this request and any questions that may have occurred to him. Like, for example, any of the details he is still insisting are not there.

During the many long years Mr Dutton clearly could have used to inform himself but did not, he has also rejected any attempts to be educated or read anything at all useful on the topic of Indigenous affairs, opting to remain uninformed.

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WHAT IS THE VOICE?

The Voice to Parliament [IA emphasis]:

‘...is a body enshrined in the Constitution that would enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to provide advice to the Parliament on policies and projects that impact their lives…

[And] gives the Australian Government the opportunity to make policies with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, rather than for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.’

HOW WILL IT WORK?

The Voice is a body that will:

provide independent advice to Parliament and Government;

be chosen by First Nations people based on the wishes of local communities;

be representative of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;

be empowering, community-led, inclusive, respectful, culturally informed and gender-balanced, and include youth;

be accountable and transparent; and

work alongside existing organisations and traditional structures.

WHAT THE VOICE IS NOT

The Voice will not have a program delivery function, or a veto power.

The Voice to Parliament does not have the power to override parliamentary decisions or to enact legislation, full stop.

THE VOICE REFERENDUM

'The referendum is part of the Government's commitment to implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.'

Source: National Indigenous Australian Agency (NIAA)

When the Albanese Government won the 2022 Federal Election, it chose to comply with the wishes of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. In order to make good on this request, Labor called a referendum — not because it had a spare $75 million lying around, not to "politicise" anything and not to confuse Mr Dutton — though the latter is obviously not difficult.

The Labor Government called this Referendum because an Indigenous Voice to Parliament can only be achieved via constitutional change, which can only happen via, you guessed it, a referendum.

After 200-odd years of oppression during which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have been completely ignored, a Voice to Parliament will allow them the opportunity to make direct representations to Parliament. Of course, parliaments can – and no doubt often will – still ignore much of it. But at least they will have to listen.

That's it.

Pipe down on The Voice, your White privilege is showing

Peter Dutton and his media cabal notwithstanding, The Voice is a well-considered and "detailed" proposition put forward by Indigenous Australians — just respect it.

2. DUTTON AND THE REFERENDUM

Unlike in other first world nations and Australian parliaments past, where democracy has been graced with respectful bipartisan support on matters of historical significance, Mr Dutton has behaved like a spoiled toddler denied his way – in this case, his way is to ignore the rights of Indigenous Australians – digging his heels in, undermining, dividing, playing on any latent insecurities and just generally acting up.

If only someone would give him a time-out.

3. DUTTON AND ANOTHER REFERENDUM

Unable to come up with solid reasons why Australians should vote No, the Opposition Leader came up with the 'Don’t know, vote No” slogan. Actually, even this wasn’t an original idea since it was the pitch for the No case during the Republic Referendum back in 1999, but we digress.

As more and more celebrities lend their voices to the Yes campaign, such as Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins, Jimmy Barnes and now, John Farnham, with his ‘You’re the Voice’ song offering, Mr Dutton has even found Farnham’s song particularly complex and thinks "most" of us are equally obtuse.

Mr Dutton told Sky News:

“The key line in the lyrics there, ‘You’re the voice, try and understand it… I honestly don’t think most Australians understand it and they want to be informed.”

Impenetrably deep pop songs aside, Dutton is not content with how the No campaign is faring. Fearing the worst, despite recent polls indicating a No win (not that IA puts much stock in polls), the Opposition Leader came up with a two-way bet, in case too many people decide just to let our First Australians finally get a say.

It goes something like this: Well, if I jump up and down long enough and make this Referendum fail, let’s have another one!

What fun! After undermining this Referendum from the outset, rallying his media mates to assist by publishing as much misinformation as possible and appealing to any latent fears and sheer laziness that may lurk beneath Australia’s so-called homogenous democracy with idiotic slogans promoting ignorance, Mr Dutton wants to spend another $75 odd million and do it all again.

How the ABC platforming the IPA is derailing The Voice & subverting democracy

The current hate-filled campaign by Far-Right conservative forces to derail the Voice Referendum is a shameful attempt to create division in order to ensure First Nations Australians remain voiceless.

Indigenous academic and co-chair of the Voice design group Professor Marcia Langton told the National Press Club yesterday (6 September) that she was “not in the least” interested in a second referendum.

Professor Langton said:

“There’s no point in a second referendum because it’s not what we want.”

Of course, this is unlikely to reach Mr Dutton’s ears and even less likely to resonate, because he just doesn’t get it.

For "most of us", it’s not hard to understand that Australia is the only first-world democracy that continues to wilfully ignore the wishes of its Indigenous peoples.

Most of us are sickened by our racist past since the First Fleet — a past that includes brutal massacres, venereal disease, enslavement, stealing children, incarceration and ongoing dispossession. It was not until 1962 that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, who now represent only 3.8% of Australia’s population, were even permitted to vote.

To summarise, Mr Dutton is confused.

He doesn't know?

Doesn’t want to find out. Can't be bothered. Doesn't care.

But most of us are not confused about Mr Dutton’s wilful ignorance.

Oh, and most of us understand John Farnham’s song: