The Voice, an Aboriginal-only access to Parliament that can never be sacked, has been a topic of much debate since Prime Minister Albanese announced it. On March 23, 2023, Albanese revealed the question that will be put to a referendum to establish The Voice. The referendum will ask voters whether they approve of amending the Constitution to create a new representative body that gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples a voice to the Commonwealth Parliament.
The decision-making process for The Voice was secretive, and many Aboriginal Australians, particularly those in remote and regional areas, were left out of it.
Critics of The Voice argue that it is a sellout to the powerful Aboriginal aristocracy who have presided over social disaster in remote and regional areas for decades. They believe that The Voice will not improve the lives of everyday Aboriginal Australians but will rather cement the power of those who have been running Indigenous Affairs for the last 50 years.
No Democracy In The Voice
One of the major criticisms of The Voice is that it will have no democracy, as its members will be selected instead of elected. Critics believe that this is a way of preserving the power of the Aboriginal aristocracy and that many of the same old faces will be in The Voice that exist today, who have been responsible for the disastrous state of Aboriginal communities.
In December last year, indigenous activist Nyunggai Warren Mundine said the Voice to Parliament was dreamed up by academics in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. He said it doesn’t represent or help Indigenous people.
“The Voice isn’t our voice,” Mundine told Sky News Australia. “It was dreamed up by a whole lot of aboriginal people, in Sydney and Melbourne. The elites in academia.”
He said the people pushing for this “have been in charge of Indigenous affairs for the last 50 years. And what improvements have they done?”
Warren Mundine Comments
Speaking to Andrew Bolt at Sky News, Warren Mundine commented, “I just find it bizarre that they’ve had all their secret meetings and been arguing and carrying on for weeks, and then they come up with the same thing they had six months ago. I just find it quite bizarre that this thing is just a disaster.”
Mundine says the government’s action with aboriginal elites on The Voice is about, “building a power base because they’ve seen that they were losing their position. This is just disgraceful behavior the way they’re carrying on.”
The Prime Minister’s own words and the wording of the proposed referendum question confirm that The Voice is nothing to do with Grassroots. He was peppered with questions from reporters asking about the inclusion of the words “executive government” in provisions on who The Voice would advise.
Elites Not Grassroots
The video clip below confirms that when the PM talks about giving The Voice to the Grassroots, he actually means the very powerful Aboriginal elites, not the Grassroots at all.
Media Reporting
The West Australian reported that some Great Southern Aboriginal leaders have criticized the proposed Voice to Parliament, arguing that it doesn’t go far enough and that it is important to address the root causes of disadvantage, such as education and economic prosperity, in remote and regional areas. [story]
7news.com.au noted that Albanese has said that The Voice will be representative of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities with a gender balance and include youth. The Voice will work alongside existing organizations and traditional structures, respecting their work. [story]
On the other hand, The Australian reported that the wording of the amendment for The Voice has been changed to give it a broader scope, including the power to make recommendations to the Commonwealth Parliament on matters affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. [story]
The debate over The Voice to Parliament continues, with many arguing that it is not the solution to the problems faced by Aboriginal Australians. Instead, they call for greater education and economic prosperity in remote and regional areas, where many Aboriginal Australians are struggling.
Related Stories
In a story last year, NewsBlaze covered a story about NT indigenous people being forced into COVID vaccinations against their will. These elites who now pretend to be grassroots did nothing about that. If they were truly grassroots, they would have done something about that.
The Prime Minister also drew fire from Pauline Hanson in parliament over a note that was purportedly written by staff within the National Indigenous Australians Agency that operates within PM&C. If any of the recommendations in that note came to pass, it would put the indigenous elites above all other Australians. Learn about this in the video below.
Albo’s The Voice fraud. NewsBlaze Cartoon.
