CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
After months of cult-like misinformation and hysterical fear-mongering from the Opponents of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, it seems that there might actually be another side to this debate.
This comes as the ‘Yes To An Indigenous Voice’ campaign kicked off right across Australia over the weekend, with a coordinated nationwide march that Channel 9 and NewsCorp have tried their very best to leave out of the headlines.
Yesterday saw hundreds of thousands of Australians brave an unseasonably hot September to show their support for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament at rallies nationwide to back the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Cities and towns right across the country hosted Welcome to Countries, smoking ceremonies and heaps of other First Nations cultural practices that make the Liberal Party heavyweights and conservative media commentators feel sick to their stomachs.
Town squares and main streets were plastered with home-made placards promoting a Yes vote, singalongs and children playing, as the Yes Campaign proved to Peter Dutton and his media allies that it’s not just ‘inner city elites’ that support the self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The follows the news that the grassroots campaign pushing for a succesful referendum result has finally reached the required fundraising goal to begin rolling out a $20m advertising campaign – that might be able to compete with Peter Dutton and Rupert Murdoch’s far-right messages that have dominated the media for months.
With Indigenous people experiencing a near 35-year disparity for life expectancy in some communities, it is no surprise why millions of Australians agree that the current system is not helping – and will be voting YES to an Indigenous Voice in the upcoming referendum.
So basically, Australians are voting to install a room in Parliament House for Indigenous elders and community leaders to convene – and for politicians to visit if they have any policies they would like to run by the Indigenous community, or questions they would like to ask about cultural protocol or lived experiences.
It is not yet known why this basic alteration to the floor plan in Parliament House horrifies Peter Dutton and the billionaire families who are funding the No Campaign – However, yesterday’s nationwide march seem to have put to bed their culture wars argument tha The Voice is only being supported by ‘inner city elites’.
