.

The Voice will make a big difference to Aboriginals' lives.

For The Voice to be enshrined in the constitution means it is  permanent  fixture. Various other bodies have been cancelled with a stroke of a pen by governments. If The Voice is enshrined in the constitution it can't be annulled.

The Voice is a direct advisory body from grass roots Indigenous peoples to the Federal government of the day. If any government ignores the advice on an issue, it becomes an election issue at the next subsequent federal election.

Why The Voice?

Aboriginals have struggled in education and health. The Voice hopes to achieve solutions  for Indigenous peoples to close the gap - directly from First Nations groups.
There are too many Indigenous Australians in jails. First Nations comprise 3% of the population, yet there are much higher percentages who are incarcerated. There will be a move for young offenders to be counselled and mentored by Elders to prevent reoffending.

From the Uluru Statement from the Heart, 250 Aboriginal groups attended. The Voice to Parliament was conceived by this group.

82% of Indigenous Australian  support Yes for The Voice.  In my home state of Tasmania, it is even higher 86% for Yes. A minority want a Treaty first.

I'm very involved in the Yes 23 Campaign. I've done heaps of door knocking, attended rallies/marches and participated in car honking/wobbleboarding/placard waving actions with Yes corflutes on busy traffic intersections.  

Knocking doors the Baby Boomers (my age) tend to be totally inflexible. They've already up their mind Yes or No and the majority  can't be changed. Ditto the Silent Generation - an older generation again.

The under 50s,  Generation X (40 and over) and the younger Millennials, are far keener to be informed, engage and listen. I've persuaded heaps to vote Yes on October 14th. Ditto many of my fellow door knockers.

In Tasmania we are killing it on the doors. Most of the  time, it is about 66% to 34% in favour of Yes. Possibly 70% per Yes at times. Particularly after a conversation. This is collated directly from circa 10 000 voters door knocked in the 5 Tassie federal electorates across the state.

Speaking to the national and state coordinators for Yes 23, the door knocking figures across Aus are much better than most of the mass media is reporting. Even our local ABC TV is reporting inaccurately. The Guardian seems to be belatedly pushing the Yes case in the last few weeks. Of course the media   doesn't have access to the direct door knocking info. At best they'd ring people at home. They are low sample sizes too.

Also, from the Yes Wobbleboarding events, there has been an overwhelming support for Yes. Cars honk or wave for support. Every hour we've had about a total of 10 -15 yell abuse or give thumbs down, but that is a tiny minority. We receive hundreds of honks or waves of support in the same period.

There are at least 30 000 - 40 000 volunteers  campaigning for Yes too. A significant number are battle hardened, very experienced political activists, like me, used to working together in protracted political  campaigns. The Noalition is struggling to get any volunteers on the ground. In the next few weeks, those doors knocked, and to a lesser extent, phones rung, will  increase support for Yes.

The Labor Party and the powerful union movement are working flat out on supporting Yes. The Greens are joining in too. Even the Tas Liberal Government supports Yes, plus the Jacqui Lambie Network. Most of my climate activist/environmental comrades are campaigning  too. Ditto the political activists in civil liberties movements. most of the migrant groups are supporting Yes as well. Not to mention a growing number of businesses.

 The churches and NGOs ( ACOSS) are also onside. They don't provide thousands of trained activists, but they provide a lot of moral authority in the media.  

Jacinta Price and Mundine from the Libs, plus Dutton,  and Lydia Thorpe, have had disproportionate media coverage to date for No, but the thousands of Yes 23 volunteers will be making inroads into public opinion  from now until the referendum on October 14th. 

NO

Unrelated but how about this.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/sustainability/canning-river-tree-planting-halted-after-aboriginal-corporation-demands-25-million/news-story/5714acecd1d6fe530af16272ff9b206c

https://twitter.com/7NewsPerth/status/1680521323674763264?s=20

Yes it will change your life. It may change it a little bit, or a lot. We don't know. I suspect the latter. But it will definitely change it. Your head in your ass if you think it wont. Just like female representative body change your life. Climate representative body change your life. Workers representative body change your life. Sometimes the change is direct and obvious, sometime it is not, but it will definitely 100% change your life.

A native representational body will not change my life at all. So yes it will not change one iota 

Voice archtiect Mr Mayo, said a “Blak rep body” enshrined in the Constitution — as called for in the Uluru Statement — would have the “resources and structure needed to unite on the priorities we collectively determine”.

“Reparations, land back, abolishing harmful colonial institutions, getting ALL our kids out of prisons and into care, respect and integration of our laws and lore, speaking language, wages back — all the things we imagine when we demand,” he wrote.

You're right it won't affect your life one iota. :laugh:

it will not change my life one iota so I could not care less what the vote is - my choice would be on if it made someone else's life better. 

I know right. Men can even have babies, and children can have their balls removed. Total insanity.

If you want to end racism, you have to stop treating people differently based on their race.

Im with you. Give them an inch and they will take a mile. 

I will be voting with a firm NO!  The whole thing is a monstrosity, in addition they are going to set back recognition years if not decades. I think this is a clear example of overreach. The public mood was sympathetic to the concept of a Voice, which around 80% public support. The proponents got greedy and saw it as an opportunity to expand the Voice's scope, to not only one of influencing indigenous affairs but one with practically no limits. The public was awaken to the trojan horse and public support has withered, and now Voice proponents are quickly backtracking and spreading their disinformation campaign, that the voice will be small in scope and practice.
It doesn't matter how sincere the Voice architects are working with governments, at some point they will be swept aside and it would be hijacked by people like Lidia Thorpe, who will make all kinds of crazy wild demands and when governments fail to enact it they will clog up the high court.