If Australia votes for change, then the government must not let us down. On the other hand, if we collectively fail Indigenous people, that makes it all the more important that the government does not.
One of my early memories is of sitting on the carpet in my parents’ house, watching ABC News and wishing it was over. Amid my boredom I must have been vaguely listening because it has stayed with me all these years that the story was about Palestine; there was the faded colour of desert sand on the screen. Or perhaps it is not a single memory but a composite, made up of the many times Israel and Palestine were on the news those days, turned into a single image which now stands in for many.
But what if, as is likely, the proposition loses? Where are we then? Are we conceding, as a nation, that the position of Indigenous people in this country is one of those intractable situations? Are we simply admitting that we are more or less satisfied with the way things are, give or take a couple of spending tweaks? That Indigenous disadvantage is unsolvable? That different groups of Australians will remain unreconciled? That the rift on which this country was built will remain forever...
Opinions remain sharply divided on whether the Albanese government has made enough change – and there is still half a term to go. One of the interesting things about the referendum is that, this Saturday, the baton is passed briefly back to the people. We have become accustomed, in recent years, to criticising our politicians for failing to change things. That is not possible here.
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Read more »