Ed,
In the USA they allowed Americans to vote, and Donald Trump was elected President.
In Great Britain they let the English etc vote and Brexit got up and in Australia they let Aussies vote and the referendum was lost.
Before the No campaign gets too excited about the win, they need to be aware of the following: 1. Maybe 10% of the electorate is way hard right – enthusiastic folk who believe the likes of Pauline Hanson have all the answers.
- A swathe of middle Australia are basically decent folk who maintain that – ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ – and commonly begin every multicultural statement with – ‘I’m not racist, but —-!’ and the ‘Donutt’ handbook provided them with any number of reasons to support their No vote.
- Maybe 10% of the electorate is disinterested and the ‘Donutt’ handbook catered for them as well – ‘if you don’t know etc.
- Nevertheless more than 39% of Aussies were prepared to accept the Voice proposal on face value – this is millions of voters who were prepared to support the First Nations cause and incidentally it far exceeds the primary vote that labour achieved to win government at the last election.
Two outcomes of the referendum should be obvious:
* First Nations folk should be buoyed that in the face of a divisive campaign they do have solid support across the electorate
* Anthony Albanese should be the last Prime Minister to propose a referendum without bipartisan support.
Ted Strong, Seelands