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I think one problem with the Voice Yes campaign was the notion that the constitutional change was a generous invitation from Indigenous people.

Its underlying premise is an unceded Indigenous sovereignty and, therefore, an Indigenous generosity in recognising the Australian Constitution and being willing to work within the “settler” regime.

But I don’t think this resonates with many Australians at all. The idea that non-Indigenous Australians require an invitation in a country they feel they have every right to be in, to belong to, and to love, is very discordant.

All or Nothing

It was rather strange listening to some Indigenous people decry the fact that they had to listen to lots of non-Indigenous people talk about them in the context of the Voice referendum.

I say strange because the constitution draws its authority from the people of Australia, which is why any constitutional change must be made by a referendum in which all voting-age citizens must compulsorily participate and why a double majority is required for any change to be passed.

In other words, any referendum for constitutional change, by definition, becomes about all Australians. As such, any constitutional change proposed that relates specifically to Indigenous Australians will, by necessity, involve all Australians.

This was an additional hurdle for the Yes campaign in what was already, by its nature, a very difficult constitution to change.

Inclusive?

I realise this will be a bitter pill to swallow for Indigenous supporters of the Voice, and I don’t doubt the genuine generosity in the minds and hearts of some Indigenous Yes supporters. But the language matters, and until the Aboriginal rights movement can find a language that non-Indigenous Australians can understand and support, progress will be limited.

I put “settler” and “colonisation” language in this basket, too. Australians of European ancestry may have begun as settlers in the process of colonisation, but they ceased to be “settlers” long ago, and Australia also ceased to be a colony in any meaningful sense of the term long ago. This language is guaranteed to alienate huge swathes of the country and will be a perpetual obstacle to the aims and ambitions of Aboriginal people until it is abandoned.

The Aboriginal rights movement needs to deal with contemporary Australia as it exists, not as it used to exist, or as it is imagined to exist according to various leftist academic theories that have no resonance whatsoever with mainstream Australia.

One of the realities that has not been taken into account sufficiently is that Australia is not really a “white” country in any meaningful sense. It is a multicultural country, with a very significant proportion of citizens (or their forebears) arriving long after the “settler-colonial” period and thus feeling little to no responsibility for the plight of Aboriginal disadvantage.

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Originally published on Dr Jonathan Cole’s page.

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Photo by Nothing Ahead.