IN the lead-up to the referendum on October 14, I have been asked many times how I’ll be voting.
Given my role as the Member for Chaffey, I think it only fair to make my position public.
I have yet to have a constituent visit my office or stop me in my travels and argue that improving the lives of Indigenous Australians is a bad thing.
Celebrated sports stars and everyday Australians alike are not wrong in their desire to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians or see reconciliation – we all want that.
Sadly, what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has proposed in this divisive Referendum goes beyond these two noble outcomes.
If successful, this Referendum would mean a fundamental change to our democracy.
In seeking to address disadvantage, this change ironically creates a disadvantage for non-Indigenous Australians who will not have a constitutionally enshrined ‘voice’ to speak to parliament or executive government on their behalf.
By embedding a ‘voice’ that affords a privilege not shared by all Australians in the constitution, the Australian people will be separated by race in one critical component of democracy and that change should not be considered lightly or one that I can support.
Currently, Australia has 11 Indigenous parliamentarians with further representation at state and local government levels.
Australia has an Indigenous ambassador.
There are commissioners and experts from different fields embedded within the Coalition of Peaks.
On top of these representative voices, individuals can talk directly to their local Members of Parliament – they can participate in and contribute to the joint and select committee processes as individuals or through organisations on matters that interest or affect them.
What would a ‘voice’ embedded in the constitution say that is not already being said?
I am proud to be Australian, and I am proud of the progress Australia has made in improving the lives of its people.
What we have built together should be celebrated, and it should also be protected, particularly our egalitarianism – the view that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.
This is a fundamental pillar of any democracy.
It is my firm view that every Australian should have the same access to political representation in our democracy.
Anything less falls short of ‘a fair go for all’.
Perhaps the heart of the problem has more to do with Canberra’s inability to listen rather than the absence of a ‘voice’.
For these reasons and more, I will be voting no in this referendum.
Being a constitutional change, this will be permanent and should be given all due consideration.
I encourage every constituent of Chaffey to look beyond the glossy marketing and educate themselves on what this change could mean, both for now and future generations, and consider if it can achieve what is being promised.
Member for Chaffey, Tim Whetstone
