CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Semi-retired white goods retailer David Lee (68) hasn’t actually met an Aboriginal person before, or a Torres Strait Islander for that matter.
As a middle class small business owner, based out of the densely suburban sprawl of Betoota Heights, with no involvement in any organised sport apart from his now adult daughters’ short-lived interest in water polo, Mr Lee and his family keep a relatively small circle.
When it comes to politics, they’d be the first to admit that they can only speak from their own experiences, and that those experiences aren’t very broad.
But, like the millions of Australians who find themselves stuck in Rupert Murdoch’s 70% marketshare of the national media landscape, David often finds him hungry for information.
Right now he’d like to know a bit more about the upcoming Indigenous Voice referendum, which will decided whether Australian includes Aboriginal people in our constitution and installs a government advisory body aimed at helping consult legislators on issues facing Aboriginal people.
With limited access to free-to-air TV channels or reliable internet due to the same poor digital connectivity faced by a vast majority of rural Australia, David has had to rely on Foxtel for many years now.
This means he has over 90 cable channels to choose from. And with the ABC, Channel 9, Seven, and Ten buried deep in the TV guide – news is hard to come by.
Luckily he has a big button on his remote that takes him directly to the 24-hour news service known as SKY NEWS.
And thanks to this mainline of NewsCorp propaganda, David is officially up to date on The Indigenous Voice.
“So let me get this straight” says David.
“The Indigenous Voice is a proposed constitutional amendment created by white elites who want to enslave poor white people by creating an apartheid that gives Aboriginal people special privileges to take our homes from us whenever they feel like it?”
“Because the lefties have made up lies about the Aboriginal people being treated unfairly over the last 200 hundred years with false claims aimed at making white people feel guilty, which actually means white people suffer more”
“Anyway this is what I’m learning from Sky news”
“Also, there seems to be only one Aboriginal person in Parliament and she doesn’t like The Voice because Alice Springs has youth crime.”
“And it only started when Anthony Albanese became Prime Minister. Before that it was a lovely little town”
“And that’s about it. There doesn’t seem to be any other Aboriginal people willing to offer their opinions on this referendum… So I’m inclined to take Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s word as gospel”
“It’s a shame more Aboriginal people haven’t been involved in this whole process.”
