Noel Pearson calls it “the elephant and the mouse problem that has characterised Indigenous affairs” – the fact that Aboriginal people, who make up 3 per cent of the Australian population, have “extreme minority status” and have had no choice but to tolerate discrimination, and then beg for recognition, from the 97 per cent.
The mouse knew it couldn’t scare the elephant if it wanted success. The Voice lobby moved slowly. Cautiously. They sought bipartisan support. For many years, they had it.During the campaign to have the Voice enshrined in the constitution, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had pitched for soaring optimism and faith in his fellow Australians.He appeared shattered, and deeply moved, as he said that the referendum defeat would not be “the end of the road”.
His electorate of Grayndler voted Yes. But it was an outlier. Even the neighbouring electorate of Barton, held by Indigenous Affairs Minister and Yes campaigner Linda Burney, voted No.“We will carry on, and we will move forward, and we will thrive. This is not the end of reconciliation,” she said. But democracy is brutal when it is brutal, and the only thing that matters in politics are the numbers.The Aboriginal people who lobbied for this change are old now – elders like Pearson, Marcia Langton and Pat Anderson will be broken-hearted by the result.
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