Prime Minister Anthony Albanese needs to step up and reassure the nation. Photo: Screenshot.
It was never going to be straightforward.
Not with the likes of Peter Dutton desperate to climb out of the slough of irrelevance the Liberal Party has created for itself.
The referendum to change the Constitution to allow an Indigenous Voice to Parliament is becoming enveloped in the spoiling politics of Dutton from the Right and the perpetual resistance mob from the Left.
Both assaults are muddying the waters and confusing voters, particularly when Indigenous people themselves appear divided.
Dutton’s target is clearly Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who invested his authority and credibility in the referendum during the election but has since vacated the playing field somewhat.
Forget Dutton’s humbug about a lack of detail and his Queensland copper’s concern for the people of Alice Springs.
This is all about getting a win – and what easier target is there than a referendum, which is notoriously difficult to get over the line.
Sow some doubt, exploit a remote town’s ongoing tragedy and deploy, even if by inference, the racist tropes about Aborigines and alcohol.
Dutton needs a victory, but with a poverty of actual policy across the board, going after Albanese through the referendum is his real politick, aided and abetted by the coterie of conservative commentators in the Murdoch press who are making all kinds of baseless claims about how Australia’s system of government is at risk.
Dutton can even roll out his own Indigenous Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to beat the drum for practical action, as opposed to the so-called empty symbolism of the Voice.
Dutton should be deplored for this patently political and destructive strategy, which shows he has not learnt anything from his time in government or from the last election.
On the other side, a Greens faction and some Indigenous activists have allied in a bid to torpedo the Voice purely for their own aggrandisement and advancement, knowing full well that their demands are unrealistic and cannot be met.
They are upping the ante, introducing the notion of black seats in Parliament and providing enough ammunition for opponents of every shape, while feeding their own need to be forever part of the struggle.
Getting lost in the crossfire is the hope for First Nations people to have a consultative pipeline to Parliament that might just result in decisions made in their interests and lead to better outcomes right down to a local level.
Providing recognition in the Constitution for First Nations should also provide a turning point for Australia as important as the destruction of Terra Nullius. Other countries have managed this without their world collapsing.
The authors of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the architects of the Voice, who have invested decades in getting to this point, are both furious and despairing about the descent into political gamesmanship but are not about to give way.
What they need, though, is for the Prime Minister, who has been trying to be statesmanlike but lacking in fire, to dismantle Dutton’s cynical game plan, build a coalition of support for the referendum and reassure Australians of its worth.
He and Voice supporters also need to show that First Nations people are on the whole supportive and that those screaming for its demise do not represent a significant portion.
No-one expected that there wouldn’t be issues to iron out, or that the proposition was ever going to be universally accepted, but the level of misinformation and negativity is disappointing.
Polling suggests that support may be wavering, yet last year’s election result also suggests that voters are less tolerant of divisive politics and more open to seizing an opportunity for a better way forward.
Much like the plebiscite on same-sex marriage.
Albanese will need to re-harness that hope and wrest control of the narrative from the spoilers, headline seekers and those on the Right whose agenda is more about protecting established privilege than concern for the Constitution and Australia’s system of government.
It is also in Labor’s interests to run hard on the referendum because if it fails due to a soft campaign not only will Indigenous people feel betrayed but voters will recoil from a party that once again isn’t prepared to stay the course on a major commitment, much like the Rudd Government’s capitulation on climate change policy.
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