The &quot;V&quot;oice fading quickly

Originally posted by coopers: ↑

What is currently in place for aboriginals to be heard is not working. They have tried this before . Remember ATSIC?
The ex-boss of the last Indigenous advisory body to Parliament faced charges he defrauded Aboriginal organisations of $2million.Geoff Clark, 69, was the chief of ATSIC, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, when it was shut down by the government in 2004.Ex-ATSIC chairman Geoff Clark faced 380 charges of fraud and deception. Family members had faced 1100-plus charges over the alleged $2million fraud.
Then it had to be abolished because it was misused.
There is no guarantee that this will not happen again. Only this time, there would be no avenue for abolishing the Voice. I listened to one of the organisers of the Lowitja Institute speaking. This institute is one of MANY avenues for aboriginals to access. It is an institute meant to advance aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' health through research. I don't understand why it has to be a seperate research institute just for aboriginals, but there it is. I understand the frustration that was portrayed in having to submit information and explain the need for government finance for this entity each time there is a change in department heads, government etc. I would be surprised if this was not the case for all such agencies. The speaker also spoke of the fact that I believe is fairly widely known, that the money does not get to where it is meant for. Sadly, I also believe this to be the case in many instances regarding the distribution of government money. This is what needs to be addressed, and I believe the vast majority of Australians would agree .However, I have absolutely NO faith in the Voice achieving this, or in fact making any positive impact on the present system. The whole existing establishment that is the farce we call the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and their external entities needs a reset, not an additional, possibly non-workable leg.

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I don’t think we could find a single person, regardless of whether they support the Yes or No side of this Voice referendum who believes that any previous government has implemented any programs, set up any Institutions or “Aboriginal Councils” that would be considered to have made a meaningful impact in improving the lives of the rural and remote citizens of who qualify as Aboriginal.

I’m not suggesting that there hasn’t been some significant upgrades in availability of medical treatment and health services.
That’s a given as these citizens have quite a significantly higher chance of needing medical treatment as a specific demographic of the population.

I personally think that every government (since at least 1967) have tried their best to raise living standards for this segment of citizens as well as their urban counterparts.

I believe that there has been some great progress in the Urban based communities and who can deny that?
It’s a real positive that “The Gap” has reduced for this section of our Aboriginal citizens and that is something that is often ignored.
I’m not suggesting that our aboriginal urban population doesn’t need “a bit extra” in government spending to draw the Gap closer but that is an aside.

Anthony and the other architects of this Next Attempt to produce a significant improvement in this group of citizens will need to “Explain” how their idea will improve the quality of life for our most needy if they want to be successful in the referendum.

The only thing that is eating away at the support for the Yes campaign is a lack of clarity.

If Albo and friends can articulate their ideas in a believable manner I reckon they can get this referendum over the line.

Is he up to it?

We will see