The “yes” vote in Australia

I’m not surprised by a no vote, a great deal of money and effort has been expended in recent years trying the help the indigenous population, Your average Australian thinks it’s mostly been wasted because very little progress has been made, they don’t want to change their lifestyle

Why should indigenous peoples be expected to integrate?

Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders are disparate groups of people with different heritage.

Those people who want to live in the original ways can do so, although children must be schooled, but many do not. Many Aboriginal people do go on to university, (not a representative proportion) TAFE, work in jobs and professions and are part of the diverse communities. However, there is still a long way to go and the hope is that there are other ways forward now.
Let's hope that holding the referendum has not been a backwards step.

I read somewhere that some people voted no because they were worried about being charged land taxes. Which people would they be talking about?

mokryna

I read somewhere that some people voted no because they were worried about being charged land taxes. Which people would they be talking about?

Farmers who bought their farms in good faith worrying about paying land taxes to the people who say they are the original owners of that land.

A volunteer group which wished to plant thousands of trees along a river in WA were threatened with a $2.5 million tax for approval of the scheme by the newly formed Whadjuk Aboriginal Corporation, who claimed the land was of cultural significance.

The new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, which came into force this year in WA, has now been repealed, I think (but don't quote me!).

Thank you

mokryna

Thank you

Perhaps an Australian Gransnetter might be along to say that I've got it all wrong! but this is just a precis of what I have heard from people I know who have been pondering about which way to vote in the referendum,.