International perspectives on the referendum, page-3

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Cowboyinvestor

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15/10/23

21:55

Post #: 70356535
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Originally posted by Scott th Ratbag: ↑

"I've already cried about it. Almost every morning, I cry with the dread of a No vote," Mililma May told the BBC two days before the poll.
Originally wary of the Voice, the Kulumbirigin Danggalaba Tiwi woman from the Northern Territory (NT) became one of the region's most outspoken supporters.
"It is such a simple idea… The least we deserve is a voice and a seat at the table."
But Ms May feels like - somehow - not just her human rights, but her "human-ness" was up for debate during the campaign.
A former PM, a former minister, and a sitting Indigenous senator, arguedcolonisation was good for Indigenous people- the leader of the opposition called the senator's comments "brave".
Trolls online debated whether campaigners were Indigenous enough for their opinion to matter. Racist abuse was so prolific - for First Nations people on all sides of the campaign - that authorities told social media companies to act.
Death threats against one Aboriginal senator forced her to move out of her house, and No campaigner and Bundjalung man Nyunggai Warren Mundine spoke candidly about how the attacks against him had made him suicidal.
National helplines were fielding a tsunami of calls from Indigenous people as Australia's usually quiet electoral commission repeatedly called for respectful and truthful debate.
Ms May said she's tried to stay "delusionally optimistic", but the referendum process has been demoralising.
"When you're walking down the street now you're passing people thinking 'Did you just vote No?' 'Did you just say my voice doesn't matter?'
"It's such a visceral experience… and a really uncomfortable feeling to sit with."
She says she left town this week because she felt paranoid in the street and unsafe on her own traditional lands.
"No" campaigner Steve Rodgers also worries the referendum may have caused enduring harm.
Outside a polling booth on Saturday, the 76-year-old said he was not opposed to the idea of the Voice - he just wanted to keep it out of the nation's founding document.
"I'm regarded as being a bad guy among some of my friends… [but] I just don't want racism in the constitution basically," he said, referring to the contested claim that the referendum could make Indigenous people "more equal" than other Australians.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-67114612

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You lost Scott.

If you can’t respect the opinions of the majority of Australians, then don’t let the door hit you on the way out
23 Upvote

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