Letter to the Editor - Australia is deeply split on this issue and thus any referendum appears doomed

To The Australian        Former High Court chief justice Robert French simply ignores the cogent arguments which have been brought up against any kind of amendment to the Constitution favouring the Aborigines ("Voice of reason is not beyond us", 31/7). He states, correctly, that "recognition is a fact". That is true and that is where it should end. However, he adds that recognition in the Constitution "would reflect an existing national growth of respect for our First Peoples." He does not say how or why; and there is reason to suspect that popular affection for the Aborigines is actually waning a little as more and more Australians become aware that "the Aboriginal industry" is engaging in selfish demands at the expense of the rest of us. French concludes that "the creation of a national consensus should not be beyond our wit." That is dreamtime stuff! Australia is deeply split on this issue and thus any referendum appears doomed.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic