​Brian Conroy

Brian Conroy

11/9/2023

I will be voting YES on 14 October. And I will encourage any of my friends who raise the issue with me to do likewise.

Despite the efforts of the NO campaign to use inaccurate and misleading arguments to advance their cause and muddy the waters on what is essentially a straight forward proposal, the referendum gives Australia the chance to rectify some of the wrongs of the past.

By voting YES to amend the Constitution on 14 October, I will be helping to create an environment in which future Governments will be obliged by the Constitution to (at the very least) listen to the Voice of indigenous people about their needs and aspirations.

That will lead to a fairer Australia and one that is better positioned to address the many areas of disadvantage of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens.

5 Comments

Rob Parsons

12/9/2023 10:07:49 am

I take exception to your statement that the No campaign has been using inaccurate and misleading arguments to advance their cause rather than putting forward valid reasons to oppose the referendum.
You fail to give any examples whatsoever. Maybe there are none! Can you try to give me at least two examples (you do say examples) if that’s at all possible…..Sorry but I really think that you have been listening to Albanese and the ABC (in particular Q & A) and The Guardian too much! And can you make it something that has not been fact checked by RMIT fact lab which has no certification. Is discredited, and have been sacked by Meta. They are being also being taken to court.

Now I can give you one example of the Yes side lying: That the Uluru Statement is just a one page document. Marcia Langton the co-author of the Uluṟu Statement has already come out and said that it’s more than one page. And this is from a person who helped write the document and a major yes voter. And in a book released in the last few days it says exactly the same thing.
I have a copy of the Uluru Statement and it is 26 pages. On the first page it has “Document 14” on the top right, it has “Page 87” bottom central. The very next page has “Document 14” top right, “Page 88” bottom centre, and “2” bottom right. The last page has, “Document 14 top right”, “Page 112” bottom centre and “26” bottom right. A quick check will show the numbering as consistent. Therefore the Uluru Statement is actually document 14 of a much larger document and the first page of this is page 87 of this larger document, and that document 14 continues for multiple pages. Hence numbered 1 then 2 and so on. This is constant will all types of Government documents.
The reason so many are pointing to this is because if our Government is lying about this, then what else are they lying about? Further has anyone on the left actually read the entire document? Certainly Albanese claims not to have done. But I have….
On Page 3 it talks about “Resistance”. On page 5 it refers to “Activism”. On Page 7 is “Makarrata” and “treaty”. On page 13 it talks about “enforcement of Treaties”. There is a lot more than this such as “reparations” that this Government is trying to hide.
Pick a number 1,15,18,26 it does not matter because it can all be sumarised as 3 words …. VOICE - TREATY - TRUTH. For anyone who wants to dispute this then please read the first page again - We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people (ie The Voice) and Makarrata (ie Treaty) is the culmination of our agenda. We seek Truth Telling (ie The Truth) about our history.
And Albanese says that it’s only about The Voice…..now who is telling untruths.

Oh yes, According to Anthony Albanese, “just because the people who helped create the Uluru statement repeatedly said it was 18-20 pages long doesn't make it true”.
According to Albanese and many desperately backpedaling Voice architects, what these documents show is only "the official explanation of the Uluru Statement."
Now that that is out of the way and we all know what to call it I suggest you all read it.
The Uluru Explanation can be found in the Official Referendum Report, the one that Megan Davis say she is referring to, it starts on page 16 and ends on page 32. Under the heading "the following pages are extracts from the Uluru Statement from the Heart."
But remember according to Albanese, it's not the full Uluru statement, it's only the full explanation of the Uluru statement.
Apparently it's very important to get that right.
Have you read the whole document?…. If not you are obviously uninformed about the whole discussion.

Catherine Watson

13/9/2023 12:36:23 pm

The Guardian annotated and fact checked the Yes and No campaign official documents:
YES CAMPAIGN
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2023/jul/20/the-vote-yes-pamphlet-referendum-voice-to-parliament-voting-essay-aec-published-read-in-full-annotated-fact-checked
NO CAMPAIGN
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2023/jul/20/the-vote-no-pamphlet-referendum-voice-to-parliament-voting-essay-aec-published-read-in-full-annotated-fact-checked

Brian Conroy

12/9/2023 03:50:00 pm

Not playing your game Mr Parsons, and I'm still voting YES.

Rob Parsons

12/9/2023 04:09:59 pm

Brian, I am sorry that you think this is a game. Personally I think it's a bit more serious than that.
When we need to unite this country, this divides us.

Peter Bogg

23/9/2023 09:51:49 am

I get it Rob, your voting NO because of the number of pages.

Brian Conroy