Racial Grievance Should Not be Permanently Codified

 Much of the support for the Voice - the proposal to insert an additional chapter in Australia's Constitution for setting up a new Aboriginal body to advise Parliament and the government - comes from a generalised sentiment that it's the morally right thing to do.

The Yes case rests essentially on the moral conviction that the Voice will entrench racial equality for Aborigines and the No case rests on the opposing principle that it will institutionalise inequality of citizenship in the Constitution.

Entrenching the Voice in the constitution is a cynical ploy to substitute symbolism for substance, to codify both an alibi for inaction on the government's part and the sense of grievance on the Aborigines' part.

What policy cannot be implemented or advisory body not created now by government without a constitutionally entrenched Voice? PM Albanese's inability and refusal to answer this simple question has been killing the Voice softly from poll to poll.

The Voice would vastly complicate Australia's challenge of effective and timely governance in the national interest for the common good.

The Canberra-based Commonwealth department supporting the Voice will depend for its continued existence on proving that the problem is not yet solved.

Denying Voice to Asian-Australians I commented previously on the coincidence of the Australian race-based Voice proposal with the US Supreme Court decision that struck down affirmative action in university admissions.

Instead, debate over the Voice has been bilateral despite the demographic reality being trilateral.

With near universal institutional support for the Voice - from the corporate, university, media, and sporting bodies - at a growing gulf with deplorables, among whom opposition to the Voice has been climbing steeply, trust in public institutions will fall even further.

One top-ranked university has advertised an "In-depth dialogue" on the Voice next month with the stated goal to cover "Diverse perspectives regarding the Voice Referendum." Yet every single one of the half-dozen speakers on the program is involved in the campaign on the Yes side.

To keep faith with Aborigines demanding a Voice with punch, he assures them it will be meaningful and substantive.

https://brownstone.org/articles/racial-grievance-should-not-be-permanently-codified/