Boy, does the ruling class hate to lose: "The Aussie elites are in meltdown".
Australia has overwhelmingly rejected Labor’s proposal for an ‘Indigenous Voice to Parliament’. Had the referendum been successful, it would have given the government a mandate to amend the constitution and create a body exclusively for Aboriginal Australians to advise parliament. After a long and divisive campaign, 60 per cent of Australians voted No to the initiative.
The emotional response displayed by the cultural elites on social media came from a deep place. The Yes supporters’ image of themselves was suddenly at stake. These are people who pride themselves on having the judgement and wisdom to diagnose social ills and prescribe solutions. The No result was as much a rejection of them and their worldview as it was of the Voice proposal itself.
The Oz elites will find some way to implement the Voice plan without voter approval being required. Just look at Brexit in the UK.
ReplyDeleteBucky: I wouldn't be surprised. Biden and his handlers ignore the law all the time.
ReplyDeleteIt was about changing our Constitution, which can only happen if a majority of voters in a majority of states vote for it - pretty smart of our founding fathers to make that stipulation. Unlike yours, our f-fs were my grandfather's generation, 1890s - Federation in 1901.
ReplyDeleteSo that ain't gonna happen.
No one cares about a 'Voice', they already had one called ATSIC. They can have as many Voices as they like, it was never dependent on a vote. Which was why average Joe thought it odd. Like a bait and switch...to claim ownership of private land and charge us all 'rent' for the privilege of being here.
ReplyDeleteThe original land-rights proposal was something like your Indian reservations, so our aborigines could do business in remote deserts with mining or farming and be self-sufficient. Instead they got greedy and claimed coastal real estate - where the elites live!
https://mosmancollective.com/general/outrageous-100-million-aboriginal-land-claim-made-on-prime-balmoral-beach-reserve/
Actually my grandfather was only a teenager in 1901, so I guess it was his father's generation.
ReplyDeleteThe fully taxpayer funded media company, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, actually had their journalists complain that they were required to present both sides of the argument. It is in their charter.
ReplyDeleteOh the tears that were shed at ABC hq were almost worth the 400 million dollars it cost to run the referendum.
Staff are actually being offered paid leave to grieve. I kid you not.
For me, it was a vote against 'Oh no, aboriginals are still suffering poverty and injustice despite dozens of agencies and do-gooder organisations collecting billions every year to change that. Let's solve that by setting up another really really big do-gooder organisation that will need even more money.'
ReplyDeleteIf anything, the No vote was lower than expected. A lot of us were hoping for a number closer to 70 percent, to drive the message home good and hard. At any rate there are now calls for an audit on all those indigenous helper groups.
There are moves afoot in some states to instigate something Voice-like. But Western Australia tried that with Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws. The state government has just repealed those laws. The repeal doesn't come into effect immediately, but the government has little reason to delay. Apart from spite and pigheadedness, which admittedly have been on display during the repeal process.
Why don't they just open casinos, as most of the Native American tribes seem to have done?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what degree of self-government, if any, Australian aboriginals have. I suspect, in America, that a lot of the money earned by tribal organizations and (supposedly) held in trust for the benefit of the members, probably finds its way into the pockets of the upper echelon - if tribal government is like any other kind of government in history.
Yes Paco, the upper echelons pocket everything, as I'm told by insiders.
ReplyDeleteNo need for casinos, mining rights on a lot of aboriginal land is worth billions.
Yet despite corruption, they are very tight knit and it seems almost impossible to get proper auditing, so far. Anyone who speaks out gets ostracised. Almost like mafia omerta, so a lot of outsiders don't really hear about it.
Tribal solidarity helped them survive in harsh conditions for millennia, but now it prevents them getting the benefit of modern life. And also enables corruption.
I agree Paco. The money is not getting to the ones that need it most. The annual spend on aboriginals is about 40 billion dollars on about 500,000 people. Although we do have a lot of Elizabeth Warren types here.
ReplyDeleteMost people I know are predisposed to do whatever needs to be done to bring the living standards up to a comparable level with other Australians but are frustrated by the greed and wastefulness of the resources they are given. Also we don't like letting politicians mess with our constitution out of 45 referendums since federation, only 8 have passed through. We just don't trust the political class.
Here's a sample of their self-government, NSW Aboriginal Land Council:
ReplyDeletehttps://alc.org.au/
'The network of 121 Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) are divided into nine regions. The number of LALCs within each region ranges from 9 to 21...'
Plenty of holes in that arrangement for funds to dissipate.
Good information, gentlemen. Thank you.
ReplyDelete