We failed to ask, now it’s time to listen

My niece is a renowned Aboriginal artist, who has exhibited and attended the exhibition of her work in New York, Scandinavia and Paris and multiple galleries throughout Australia. This is a woman who was born beneath a tree on the “Yumba”, an allocated plot of land for Aboriginal people on the outskirts of a town in west Queensland. With minimum education she has an uncanny sense of emotional intelligence. In later age she attended classes so she could learn to read English.

It beggars belief that a 60-year-old woman in Australia would feel discomfort at a supermarket to do some shopping. She is tired of being ignored at the delicatessen and butcher shop, and exhausted having to wait until they choose to help. “Do they not see me?” she cheekily asks.

Voting Yes is an opportunity for my niece and her fellow travellers to receive acknowledgement from the rest of Australia that we want to attempt to help diminish the underlying racism that she and her fellow travellers endure every day in every way as they go about their life.Jan Oates, Fitzroy North

THE FORUM

Common groundWhen I am asking voters if they want onions with their sausage on Saturday, I will really be wanting to ask, “Did you want a unified Australia with your vote?” Niki Savva’s precise simile that the No campaign claiming voting Yes is dividing Australia is “like claiming black is white” (“Sad path of a frightened nation”, 12/10) highlights the irony that real division looms following the sadness of a possible defeat.

How people who continue to hope for improved lives for Indigenous Australians act following the potential revelation and frustration that we share sausages and lives with people who have said No will determine whether the outcome is actually divisive. “Unity … er, I mean onions, yes.”Tim Webster, Hurstbridge

Learning lessonsNiki Savva’s analysis captures the Voice debate’s likely inevitable demise. If the referendum is defeated, as expected, once the recriminations are aired it can yet be a source for strengthening our democracy. This debate has highlighted, as never before, some big issues that must be addressed with vigour.

The absolute need for truth in political messaging must be paramount. Social media must also be held to account for the lies and misinformation that they spread.The Labor Party should also look at its own approach to this debate – how it was flat-footed from the beginning, and seemingly unprepared for a contested vote. A phoenix of sorts may yet arise from the anticipated ashes.Chris Young, Surrey Hills

Reputation on the lineNiki Savva is correct when she says the referendum “is a defining moment for Australia” and that everything the result delivers resides with us. If the Voice fails, we can expect Australia to become an international pariah: will we ever be able to condemn another country for human rights violations? The trust of First Nations people in non-Indigenous Australians will be trashed. The many gaps – health, housing, employment, education and justice – will remain.Jan Marshall, Brighton

Tomorrow is another dayIn presenting her arguments in favour of voting Yes, Niki Savva resorts to hyperbole. To describe the referendum as a “defining moment for Australia” and that a No win will mean Australians are “frightened, resentful people” may be effective rhetoric, but cannot be taken literally.

If No wins, the sky won’t fall in, the rest of the world won’t regard Australia differently in any significant way and most people will just get on with their lives.Rod Wise, Surrey Hills

Special access?Your correspondent voting No because they feel “no lobby group … should have privileged access to our government” (Letters, 12/10) will be gobsmacked to learn about the access available to lobby groups from business, unions, fossil fuels, mining, pharmaceutical research, tourism, toll roads, property developers …Peter McGill, Lancefield

Advisory bodyYour correspondent does not seem to appreciate what the Voice to parliament would do or mean for Aboriginal people. It is not a “lobby group” that will have “privileged access to our government”. It will be an advisory body that can only make recommendations regarding policies that affect the lives of Indigenous people that the government is under no obligation to implement. How harmful can that be to the rest of us?Simon McInnes, Boolarra

Tireless effortsWhatever the outcome of the referendum, one has to admire and give credit to the prime minister for maintaining his message throughout the campaign. He and his team have worked tirelessly for what they believe is right and the outcome will indicate that many Australians believe it as well.Perhaps mistakes may have been made in the way that the referendum question was structured, but while the PM will no doubt shoulder the blame for this, he was guided as always by his team of advisers from the First Nations people to keep the message and the question simple.

We may not have the opportunity again in our lifetime, to see another vote on this question, but this does not mean that there will not be other ways of transforming the lives of many Indigenous people, and in doing so transforming the lives of non-Indigenous people as well.Bruce MacKenzie, Kingsville

Make it countQuite a few people have expressed the view that the current referendum is unnecessary as it was open to the prime minister to legislate for the Voice earlier this year, an option he decided not to take. Many of these people may decide to refrain from voting as a protest against the referendum. I hope they do not do that as the right to vote is a precious and extremely important part of our democracy. I hope all those eligible to vote, ensure that they get to the ballot box and cast a valid vote.Adrian Hassett, Vermont

Uncertain methodPeter Dutton has shown he is incapable of leading Australia in a unifying, compassionate and principled way. He instead relies on spreading fear, doubt, uncertainty and division. Fortunately, we know this now, before any federal election.Eve Stocker, Carlton North

Wishing for peaceLast Saturday we saw the very worst of humanity as Hamas militants attacked, killed and kidnapped innocent and unsuspecting Israelis. Not surprisingly the response from Israel has been harsh and uncompromising with Palestinians in Gaza now suffering the impact.

Simultaneously we heard of a devastating attack on a refugee camp in Myanmar. The Russian war against Ukraine’s sovereignty continues and there are multiple armed conflicts, mostly outside our field of vision, in Africa.

Whatever the rights and wrongs that lead to these events, the resort to violent conflict with disregard for human life is all too often the outcome. I wish for a world where respect for others is paramount, where we all accept the right of others to coexist regardless or racial, religious or political backgrounds. Sadly man’s history says my wish is a pipedream.David Brophy, Beaumaris

Hated for my heritageLike Kerri Sackville (“Far from Israel, but on high alert”, 12/10), over 65 years ago, I suffered antisemitism, with rocks thrown at me and antisemitic jeers and cat-calls. Carved into a desk at school “… is a Jew. We don’t want Jews at this school”. Later, in job interviews, I denied my Jewish heritage and refused to enter “Jewish” on job applications (which was required then). Sadly, I still deny my heritage today.Name withheld on request

Repression no solutionWe are at this dire point due to the policies of Israel, which believes its powerful military can resolve the Palestinian question by continuing to occupy and repress the Palestinian people. What we have witnessed over the decades is that this leads inevitably to more rebellion and uprisings. And the brutalising effect of enforcing the occupation and oppression only breeds more brutality on both sides.

Governments and some politicians in some countries ignore or excuse blatant Israeli human rights violations and breaches of international laws do neither side a favour. This just creates more obstacles to a just peace.

Despite talking about peace with Palestinians, Israel has kept delaying meaningful discussions and used this time to change facts on the ground in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. This results in further death and destruction, not a resolution of the Palestine problem.Steven Katsineris, Hurstbridge

Who controls Gaza?As a former Israeli, it is important for me to clarify the description of “Who controls Gaza today,” (“The Gaza Strip explained”, 11/10). The actual ruler of Gaza, even today, is Israel.

Israel controls every aspect of life there: electricity (four hours a day per house), and water (90 per cent of tap water is undrinkable). There is no sea port, no airport. It is the largest prison in the world, with a deliberately starved, poor population that can do nothing to change its situation. It is important to know this when trying to understand recent events.Nachshon Amir, Sandringham

Why we don’t burnTony Wright (“To burn or not? The oldest riddle of forest”, 7/10) romanticises and mythologises the practice of historical colonial burning. This continues the myth that burning the bush will mitigate bushfire behaviour. He says the first Europeans “wrote of wide grassed valleys” but omits that they often stated they found the bush “to be impenetrable”.

The reason that in 1908 selector burning was outlawed was because a 1900 royal commission found they were causing bushfires! After that government agencies began prescribed burning, and even though there have been more of these in the past 20 years than ever before, the bushfires are getting worse.

Research by one of Australia’s foremost fire scientists, Dr Phil Zylstra, shows that (combined with climate change) too frequent burning dries out the ground, and regrowth in the years after the burns increases vegetation growth therefore increasing fire risk until the forest naturally thins and becomes more fire resistant with age. It’s time to rethink fire mitigation, and prescribed burns need to be confined to the past where they belong.Irene Proebsting, Tyers

Welcome shotAs an immunocompromised senior, and even though I had had a one-shot vaccination jab, I contracted shingles about five years ago. As a result, I have lost about 90 per cent of vision in my right eye. The federal government’s decision (“Free shingles vaccine for millions”, 8/10) to make the two shot Shingrix vaccination available to at-risk people is to be applauded.Jim McLeod, Sale

AND ANOTHER THING

Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding

The VoiceIn 1967 we voted so that First Nations people were seen. In 2023 we are voting so they may be heard.Shirley Purves, Gisborne

The Constitution is a 1901 document – surely it’s time for some renovations to this rickety old house.Eric Kopp, Flinders

If you still don’t know, maybe just write that across your voting paper. (It won’t count either way.)John Boyce, Richmond

Peter Dutton (perhaps unintentionally) makes a strong case for the abolition of compulsory voting. In countries where voting is optional, if you don’t know, you don’t vote.Noel Ancell, Chadstone

If you don’t know then don’t bother finding out does not sound like the motto of the sort of leader we want in this country.Lyn Mitchell, Black Rock

If the referendum result is as expected No, turn off the lights on the sails of the Sydney Opera House.Jenny Smithers, Ashburton

It is interesting that quite a large number of people who say they are going to vote No, start off by saying they are not racist.Marie Nash, Balwyn

Your correspondent who states that “No lobby group of any persuasion should have privileged access to our government” (Letters, 12/10) has obviously never had an invite to the Minerals Council annual dinner in Canberra.Dick Davies, North Warrandyte

FurthermorePalestinians aren’t necessarily supporters of Hamas. Israelis are not all supporters of the Netanyahu government. Peace not war.Bill Clark, Melbourne

Races, tribes, religions? I’m for humanity.David Allen, Bayswater North

FinallyRe tiny apartments, in Germany they are called “Wohnklo”, which roughly translates as “Loo flats”.Luise Mock, Tawonga South

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