The Costs, Before the Voice By Bruce Bennett

“The Bumper Sticker Resistance,” by Joanna Hacckett, Quadrant Special Digital Edition, August 2023, gives some statistics that will be useful in replying to people you know from the Yes side, or at present undecided, who think not enough is being done of indigenous communities. In fact, massive amounts of monies are spent, but it does not go where it should because of usual problems of bureaucracy and posh jobs for city fellas, over where the real need is, in the bush communities:

https://quadrant.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Quadrant-202308-Aug-Online-PEindex-4-1.pdf  

“According to Advance Australia, Australian taxpayers spend $100 million every single day on direct government support for indigenous communities. That’s $39.5 billion a year in 2023. That’s more than we spend on the NDIS ($35.5 billion), Medicare ($31.3 billion) or Defence ($38 billion). It’s about the same as the federal government’s entire expenditure on schools and universities ($39.7 billion). When considering these eye-watering figures, remember that Aboriginal people number just over 3 per cent of the population. Where is the money going? Nobody seems to know. And surely welfare should be based on need, not race? Another worrying figure is this: only 24.2 per cent of Australian land remains untouched by Aboriginal rights, claims or agreements. NonAboriginal people are now prevented from visiting many parts of their own country, or must pay fees to do so and employ an approved guide. Be afraid, for sacred sites are magically springing up all over the place and even more lock-outs are lurking at national parks and beaches near you. Perfectly fine place names are being changed to Aboriginal names at not insignificant expense. The irritating use of Aboriginal country names is now ubiquitous and we slide seamlessly from one special Aboriginal event to another. I think we’re up to Reconciliation Week or maybe it’s the Anniversary of the National Apology Day (not to be confused with Sorry Day) or Close the Gap Day or maybe the Garma Festival or the Barunga Festival, or NAIDOC Week. Whatever. Any excuse to put on the nappies and stomp about. And during these special events our defenceless school children are dressed up in costumes and indoctrinated in the wonders of Aboriginal culture and the evils of the white man. We live in a dangerous age, because every time a book disappears or a statue is pulled down or a lie goes unchecked, we edge closer to Orwell’s 1984: “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped.”

We therefore do not need a Voice referendum, but instead a Royal commission into the use and abuse of public funds in this industry, and why the people who really need the money are not getting it. The Voice is not going to solve the problems outback Aborigines face, but will simply entrench the existing power of the elites.