If the Yes vote does not succeed on 14 October, I will be very sad, and in the face of international scrutiny, perhaps even a little ashamed.
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The facts relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are undisputed:
- Shorter life expectancy
- Higher rates of infant mortality
- Lower levels of education
- Much higher levels of ill health due to diabetes, heart and kidney disease
- Thirty percent living in poverty, some in abject poverty with twenty people to a house, perhaps no running water and in some areas little phone or internet access
- Many with mental health illnesses
- Unresolved trauma due to historical issues and racism
We know this. Various governments have spent very large sums of money attempting to resolve issues, but with minimal success.
How much better if the elders who are acutely aware of their local issues, could advise through a Voice to Parliament so that solutions can be tailored to specific needs and ongoing through potential changes of government.
Money would be saved, local people would have ownership of the solutions and the outcomes much more likely to be positive.
Human rights organisation Amnesty International Australia is promoting a Yes vote.
We should all have compassion and vote Yes too.
June Robertson, Wagga
![We should all have compassion, today's correspondent says. We should all have compassion, today's correspondent says.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/GGnMDP6H6ep7kM2Dx35kRi/11021776-7859-4255-ae83-41eb5661f2c4.png/r0_0_1600_900_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
BOOKISH OBSERVATIONS
I was interested to read a quote from Wagga Wagga City Council's chief operating officer, Scott Gray (no relation), in Friday's DA (Council hands tied, not 'the moral police' as ban saga rolls on).
"We operate under the NSW Library Act, in that the premise is open access to all information for a range of different people regardless of moral values and beliefs, we don't have a role in censorship."
If that is the case Mr Gray, why are daily copies of The Australian newspaper no longer available to readers in the city library?
John Gray, Wagga
BY ITS VERY NATURE, OPPOSITION CALLS FOR NEGATIVE VIEW
Your newspaper editorials call for respectful debate on The Voice referendum but the Letters column pursues the opposite policy.
Ray Peck brands the 'If you don't know...' slogan a "shameful cop out" (DA Letters, 21/9). On the same page, Terry Flanagan urges a named person to "let go of the drip feed of relentless negativity."
Linking a supposed need to feel 'shame' about holding a democratic idea targets the person; not the idea (the slogan itself can't feel emotions).
And it's a difficult concept, I know, but opposing something or arguing for its rejection requires, by its nature to, er... point out negatives.
Why maintaining such a stance consistently should be seen as "relentless" or a "drip feed" is, again, simply a slur against the individual; it's like criticising water for being so relentlessly wet.
I suppose these examples aren't as bad as actor Jack Thompson opining that a No-vote would be an act of "sheer bastardry" (Daily Telegraph, 21/9) or Marcia Langton's summation of the No campaign as "racist" and/ or "stupidity"; but if the Daily Advertiser truly wants a respectful discussion, it could try following its own advice in what is published.
The "If you don't know..." slogan is, by the way, adapted from Paul Keating's quip during the 1993 election and referred to the Liberal's 'Fightback' raft of policies.
He said, "If you don't understand it, don't vote for it; if you do understand it, you'd never vote for it."
Much more apt, I think, when seen in full.
Robert T Walker, Wagga
COXY'S LASTING LEGACY
Andrew Mangelsdorf's obituary for Peter Cox (Coxy) failed to mention the shows he directed at the Wagga Civic Theatre, for which he will arguably be remembered best.
These included musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables, The Boy from Oz and My Fair Lady, as well as plays including Noises Off and the Australian classic Away.
Each production managed to pack out the theatre for many performances, receiving universal applause and often standing ovations.
Wagga Wagga, and indeed Australia, has lost a unique and talented theatre voice.
Vale Peter Cox.
Tony Trench, Wagga
OPTIONS GALORE FOR ACCELERATING SHIFT
The federal government policy of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds is certainly impeding the progress of Australia reaching net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050.
This may well be good political policy but is certainly causing a major slow down in reducing greenhouse emissions.
There is so much that can be done by government policy to speed up adoption of renewable energy through taxation, increased carbon pricing, subsidy reductions and research and development funding, to name a few available options.
Brian Measday, Kingswood
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