18-09-2023: Four weeks out from the Australian federal government’s “Voice to Parliament” referendum, most polls show it is headed for a heavy defeat. One poll has the No vote at 61%, trailed by the Yes vote at only 39%.[1] The referendum, which is being spearheaded by the governing Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Greens, has the least support in the states of Western Australia (WA) and Queensland (QLD), but more support in the generally more liberal states of Victoria (VIC), New South Wales (NSW) and South Australia (SA). The “Voice”, if enacted, will give an indigenous body (which is appointed rather than elected) the right to make a submission to parliament on matters affecting Aboriginal/First Nations people. In WA however, support for the Voice has waned on the back of the disastrous new cultural heritage laws which were scrapped 39 days after they were proposed due to a widespread backlash. While perhaps well intended after mining giant Rio Tinto destroyed two ancient rock shelters in the Pilbara in 2020, the proposed cultural heritage laws included penalties of up to $10 million in fines for corporations, $1 million for individuals as well as time in jail.[2] It could potentially have led to small farmers being jailed for building a fence, planting trees or clearing tracks.

Deception

As was the case during the fraudulent “Covid pandemic” of 2020 – 2022, allegedly progressive and liberal values are being used by sections of the ruling class for reactionary ends and political repression – under the guise of humanitarianism! This is why the Voice is being led by the capitalist parliamentary parties of the ALP and the Greens, unquestioningly by the old Union bureaucracies, and with some grumbles by the faux left. The Voice is so token as to be embarrassing, a powerless committee which can be ignored by politicians at a whim. Potentially, the Voice, if put in place, can be used by politicians to derail and block ANY genuinely progressive political demands that Aboriginal people and their allies put forward from this point onwards. Even moderate demands for better housing, education and healthcare outcomes for indigenous people could simply be referred to the Voice, which would have no say other than attaching a Voice letterhead to emails to parliament.

Identity politics is so divisive that it has led to a situation where there is a left-wing yes and a left-wing no, at the same time as there being a right-wing yes and a right-wing no. This is somewhat understandable, given that some workers wish to back even the smallest step forward for Aboriginal people, even while they readily acknowledge its severe limitations. Generally speaking however, those who fell into line under “Covid”, have also fallen into line under the “Voice”. On the other hand, those who resisted the unprecedented tyranny and authoritarianism of Covid repression are seeing through what is essentially another elaborate deception via a referendum. Arguably, one reason the ruling class is pushing this is to obtain untrammelled access to vast regions of the outback for mineral exploitation through such environmentally disastrous procedures as “fracking”, with “permission” from a toothless and unrepresentative Voice. Another important reason may well be that the ruling class is aiming to forever put an end to the uncomfortable situation (for them) where hundreds of thousands of indigenous people and their supporters march for justice each year on the 26^th of January.

Change the Date

The Invasion Day (“Australia Day”) rallies each year were, prior to Covid terror, becoming larger and larger, highlighting the epic injustice of Australia’s national day in fact marking the beginning of British colonisation in 1788 and the subsequent 150 years of undeclared war against Australia’s original inhabitants. They dwarfed any official “Australia Day” ceremonies held by local governments, to the point where most authorities simply abandoned them. During the years 2017-18, the single demand “Change the Date” was raised, which generated vast support far beyond indigenous people and their allies. Unfortunately, woke identity politics stepped in, and the Aboriginal activist leaderships trashed Change the Date in favour of the nihilistic “Abolish Australia Day”, which became “Abolish Australia”. Much of the false left caved in, and a huge movement of the masses turned away, with many repelled and disoriented. Changing the date of Australia’s national day away from January 26 could have been won and would have at least provided a platform for further struggles. Yes, it would have been symbolic and partial, but polls overwhelmingly showed the majority of people had no issue with changing the date, as long as there was another date which was marked as Australia’s national day.

It cannot be ignored that the Voice referendum is taking place amid a backdrop of cataclysmic preparations for a potential nuclear world war, with the West plying Nazis in Ukraine with weapons in a proxy war on Russia AND literally setting up US bases across Australia and the Pacific for a catastrophic war on China. One cannot pretend to be progressive while remaining silent, or cheering on, the arming of Nazis in Europe (which the ALP and the Greens in Canberra have facilitated) AND remaining ambivalent about a horrific anti-communist war against Red China. Similarly, one cannot be for humane pluralism while assisting the capitalist state in the incarceration, censoring and physical suppression of workers under the threadbare excuse of “health” via a questionable virus. Millions of workers were thrown out of work through vaccine mandates, and some Aboriginal people were thrown into Covid detention centres without a word of protest from many who now loudly advocate the Voice !!

What is more, Australia is gripped in the worst cost of living crisis in memory, as but one outcome of the unconscionable lockdowns which shut down whole sections of the economy. Food prices, rent, housing, utility bills and inflation have never been higher and is grinding many into poverty. Meanwhile, billionaire corporations which pay little or no tax such as Rio Tinto, BHP, Wesfarmers, Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank are strongly in favour of the Voice – which demonstrates just how ineffectual it would be in practice. It clearly does not cost a cent to appear woke and progressive, while fortifying the entirety of the parliamentary system and, by extension, the whole apparatus of elite rule.

Previously, we called for a treaty to replace the Voice, but it is now apparent that a treaty with the same political forces pushing the Voice will be far too compromised. Rather, to refocus and reignite the indigenous rights movement, the single demand of Change the Date needs to once again come to the fore, as a flow on from the demand for the cancellation and permanent withdrawal of the Voice.  Ultimately, the fate of the Aboriginal people and the working class is bound up with a joint struggle against capitalist class rule. To this end, what is required is a multi-racial and multi-ethnic Marxist vanguard party, which can light the path towards the international victory of a socialist order.

WORKERS  LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

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[1] https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/the-latest-poll-for-the-voice-to-parliament-shows-yes-trailing-no-by-greatest-margin-yet/ar-AA1grIbv (17-09-2023)

[2] https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/reason-entire-state-were-turned-against-voting-yes-to-the-voice/news-story/b2f8c95c3c5b25079a95092f5937aa5c (17-09-2023)

Image: Indigenous people display the Aboriginal (at right) and Torres Strait Islander (at left) flags. http://www.couriermail.com.au