DEAR News Of The Area,
WAYNE Duesbury makes a number of erroneous claims in his letter last week regarding The Voice.
These reflect National Party talking points rather than actual engagement with the issue.
The most serious error concerns his assertion that “many years ago we had a successful referendum that removed race from the constitution”.
I assume he is referring to the 1967 referendum that saw Aboriginal people counted as citizens for the first time.
That referendum did not remove race from the constitution but empowered the Commonwealth to make race based laws that apply to Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal people were previously excluded from this section because Aboriginal affairs were seen as a state issue.
If Mr Duesbury wishes to look it up it’s section 51(xxvi).
The proposal for the Voice is saying that given the Commonwealth already has the constitutional power to make laws specifically targeting Aboriginal people, they would like to be consulted during the development of such laws.
It is not unreasonable that this right to consultation also be enshrined in the constitution.
So when Mr Duesbury exhorts readers to look at facts rather than listening to “the vibe” I couldn’t agree more.
Perhaps he could start by looking into what the proposal for the Voice actually is, rather than what the National Party says it is.
Regards,
Sean SLAVIN,
Bellingen.