Brisbane

Well I plan on voting no, because I disagree with the idea of making something permanent before you've demonstrated that it works. There are countless programmes and departments and taskforces that have been set up over the years that were supposed to help Aboriginals and apparently none of those seem to have worked, so it makes me very sceptical that the Voice is going to be any different. Many in the Yes crowd keep insisting that this will solve problems of the programmes in the past, but I haven't yet seen anything that listed out specific points of why each of those programmes failed, and what the Voice does differently to avoid falling into the same traps.

I just don't understand why it wasn't introduced in a temporary capacity so we could all see how it was going to work first, putting everyone's concerns to rest, and then if it proves successful I wouldn't have any issue voting yes to make it permanent. It's the whole fear of the unknown thing for me - what if it just makes things worse? One of the Yes arguments is that if they made the Voice legislatively instead of via a referendum, a future government might undo it, but that's the whole idea - if it turns out to be another failed attempt added to the pile then we can undo it and try something else. But if it is shown to work THEN we have the referendum to make it stick, I think at that time most Australians would be happy to vote yes as they would know exactly what they are voting for. I think it was incredibly silly of the government to hold the referendum so prematurely, and I think they have probably shot themselves in the foot by doing so.

Sure there are plenty of bigots out there who will vote no because of race, but the majority of people I talk to about it are voting no because they're concerned that it's going to create new problems without solving the existing ones first, and that it won't make one bit of difference to those who need it most. Concerns that could've been easily addressed with a trial run first.

So while I have no ill feelings towards anyone who intends to vote yes, and I think they are well-intentioned and are making the noble choice, I think the government has handled the whole thing poorly and they need to come back with a better plan instead of the half-arsed proposal they put forward this time. It really is straight out of Utopia - make the big announcement first and let someone else worry about whether it will actually work or not.