The “yes” vote in Australia

The exploitation of aboriginal rights - assuming you mean government grant of rights and not native title, is presumably in the government hands and therefore under government control. If there is massive exploitation by what appear to be a small majority then what is the government doing about it?

I feel very uncomfortable reading about 1/8th aborigine. How on earth do you know? And if a person identifies as aborigine isn’t that enough? It sounds so much like apartheid South Africa.

Representation and being given a voice must surely extend democracy? Haven taken their lands by force and trashed their life I would have thought the least the colonisers could do would be to give them a voice.

Don’t talk uninformed garbage. No one here is anti immigration because we are ALL immigrants. First generation migrants are close to 30 % of the population these days - vast majority now no longer of British descent. It is a lot harder for a Brit to get here than almost any others now, reverse of what it was.

Indigenous folks must integrate with colonising cultures else be refused a vote in the land of their own origins. But no, that’s not racist.

Unsurprisingly, same people with that sick mentality tend to be anti-immigration despite defending colonialsim and its damage to indigenous peoples smh.

Whatever the indigenous people of Australia chose, my opinion of those that oppose them any voice or rights whatsoever will remain way down in the gutter.

nanna8

No one I know is voting Yes. The pure blood First Nations people will vote no because it is not their people who will benefit, sadly. The loud self styled Aborigines are not representative of those who live in the traditional way but they ar3 the ones who will make the decisions. As per usual.

My cousin in Brisbane has exactly this standpoint, the Aboriginal rights system is exploited on a massive scale, by those with as little a 1/8th heritage.

You are being too defensive. All I said was that i hope it isn’t a racial thing

However, as I understand 20% of the indigenous folk want nothing to do with the incomers and that is they’re prerogative, however, 80% appear to want to be included in decision making taking place in their country, which seems a very reasonable demand to me..

Of course it’s not racial. It is a divisive thing and the First Nations people in the NT and WA who live as they have always lived don’t like it because it will be of no help for them at all. I find the comment about racism offensive and uninformed.

Thank you Whitewave; I couldn't find any factual info.

I can’t find any explanation as to why you should vote no.

I do hope it isn’t a racial thing.

Whitewavemark2

It doesn’t seem to be anything to do with integration.

Normally the immigrants are expected to integrate with the indigenous - not the other way around!

Agreed!

She spoke about it to me recently, but must confess I didn’t really know to what she was referring. I shall ask her in more detail when next we speak.

I assume as with us and Brexit for instance, they are voting for what they feel is best for their future.

This was in reply to Whitewavemark.

Calendargirl

nanna8

No one I know is voting Yes. The pure blood First Nations people will vote no because it is not their people who will benefit, sadly. The loud self styled Aborigines are not representative of those who live in the traditional way but they ar3 the ones who will make the decisions. As per usual.

My Australian son-in-law, my DD, an Australian citizen and their two older children eligible to vote will all be voting ‘no’.

Do you know why?

nanna8

No one I know is voting Yes. The pure blood First Nations people will vote no because it is not their people who will benefit, sadly. The loud self styled Aborigines are not representative of those who live in the traditional way but they ar3 the ones who will make the decisions. As per usual.

My Australian son-in-law, my DD, an Australian citizen and their two older children eligible to vote will all be voting ‘no’.

nanna8

No one I know is voting Yes. The pure blood First Nations people will vote no because it is not their people who will benefit, sadly. The loud self styled Aborigines are not representative of those who live in the traditional way but they ar3 the ones who will make the decisions. As per usual.

80% of aborigines agree with it according to the statement above.

Do you know any aborigines nanna8?

It doesn’t seem to be anything to do with integration.

Normally the immigrants are expected to integrate with the indigenous - not the other way around!

No one I know is voting Yes. The pure blood First Nations people will vote no because it is not their people who will benefit, sadly. The loud self styled Aborigines are not representative of those who live in the traditional way but they ar3 the ones who will make the decisions. As per usual.

Native Australians have had education, health care and benefits for decades, yet progress has been very slow, of course they should have a say in parliament. If the aim is integration with the other 97% ? of Australians, maybe in a generation.

Here are some copy and pasted information

This is the question

On referendum day, Australian adults will be asked to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a single question: “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”

“A change supported by more than 80 per cent of Indigenous Australians: Constitutional Recognition through a Voice. A way for all of us to recognise Indigenous Australians and their history in our Constitution and a form of recognition that will importantly make a positive difference to their lives and their futures.”

“Voting Yes means: Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia. Celebrating and sharing 65,000 years of history. Sending a powerful message to the world about Australia's unity.”

“The Uluru Statement from the Heart (the Statement) is an invitation from a group of First Nations people to non-Indigenous Australians. Shared in 2017, the Statement calls for substantive reform to help realise Indigenous rights, through the establishment of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and a Makarrata Commission”.

I am not very knowledgeable but I feel very sorry for the world’s indigenous populations. For thousand of years they lived their lives without commercialization. They lived as one with nature.
In Australia they were herded onto reservations, children were taken from families, their own cultural practices were denied, so that they were able to ‘profit’ from the new culture.

I hope the Aboriginal people have the right to vote in parliament.

I was shocked to see ‘the so called intelligent race’ climbing all over Ayer’s Rock, a total disregard to notices explaining that it was a religious site for some.

eazybee

Are these 24 people to be elected or selected, and how?
Difficult to find any factual information, just people saying what a wonderful idea it is.

I am hoping that an Australian poster will fill us in. Although I will have a look meanwhile.

Interestingly in New Zealand, the % of indigenous population compared to colonisers is much higher, and there does not appear to be the same sort of problems - perhaps because they have a greater voice in things?

Having described some of the groups I have witnessed, there are of course those who still live the life of their elders who had so much knowledge of their land. Maybe integration would not be that important to them.

Maybe the indigenous people were happy with their own country as it was, and didn't aspire to be rich in monetary terms but poor in quality time.

Are these 24 people to be elected or selected, and how?
Difficult to find any factual information, just people saying what a wonderful idea it is.

maddyone- same for the Navahos and other indigenous tribes in the USA. They have lost all their values and way of life, their dignitiy, and their land. Why do you think alcoholism, drugs, depression, poverty and unemployment, etc, are rife?

Katie59

It’s a big issue, the indigenous population has not integrated despite a lot of reforms and this new initiative is not going to make any difference.
Alice Springs has almost become a no go area because crime levels are so high.

This sentence really made me jump.

The INDIGENOUS population has NOT INTEGRATED.