Will Australia Hear The Voice?

10 comments on “Will Australia Hear The Voice? ”

• Comment on post

1. cathy-O 1

   7 March 2023 at 9:13 am

   "….and an end to the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families"

   that can't be still happeing !! i must have misread something

   Reply
   • tWiggle 1.1

     7 March 2023 at 10:36 am

     I read about the call for stopping removal of children, and assume it is similar to Māori family harm examples, where children might go into institutional or foster care outside their family and community.

     Reply
     • joe90 1.1.1

       7 March 2023 at 11:17 am

       where children might go into institutional or foster care outside their family and community.

       Looks to me like it's the same old wholesale uplifting of indigenous kids and placing them with the right people.

       .

       Mon 16 Nov 2020

       […]

       The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children being removed and placed into Australia’s child protection systems continues to “escalate at an alarming rate”, according to the annual Family Matters national report.

       The number of Indigenous children in out-of-home care will more than double by 2029, if states and territories “do not change our course of action”, the Family Matters report says.

       Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children make up 37% of the total out-of-home care population but are only 6% of the total child population in Australia. They are 9.7 times more likely to be removed from their families than non-Indigenous children, according to the report produced by the peak group representing all Indigenous child care organisations in Australia, SNAICC.

       A “staggering” 81% of Indigenous children are on long-term guardianship orders, which means they are in state care to the age of 18 and are thus “at serious risk of permanent separation from their families, cultures and communities”.

       In New South Wales, the use of permanent care orders is twice the national average.

       The number of Aboriginal children being adopted has also risen, Family Matters said. Ninety-five per cent of adoptions have been to non-Indigenous carers, and they all occurred in NSW and Victoria.

       In NSW adoption without parental consent was legalised in 2018, despite widespread community opposition.

       https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/16/alarming-rate-removal-of-australias-indigenous-children-escalating-report-warns

       https://theconversation.com/thirteen-years-after-sorry-too-many-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-children-are-still-being-removed-from-their-homes-159360

       Reply
       • Belladonna 1.1.1.1

         7 March 2023 at 11:36 am

         And this is probably a big part of the reason why.

         https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-13982-4

         When public services know (because a child or young person has been hospitalized as the result of physical or sexual abuse) – that this is occurring – they have a specific legal duty to remove the child or young person from the situation.

         Reply
2. tWiggle 2

   7 March 2023 at 10:53 am

   As I understand it, the Voice Call will create a constitutionally-enshrined indigenous consultation group with the job of making representations to Parliament on any relevant legislation. It will have no voting rights, so is unlike the Māori seats in our Parliament.

   Seemed a bit toothless to me, but then the size of the indigenous population in Australia is less than the 20% we have in NZ, and represents far-flung communites, unlike generally well-dispersed Māori tribal groups. Therefore, rather than have a few parliamentary MPs, the Voice representatives would have direct access to the nuts and bolts of law-making and executive decision-making.

   Still, the fish hook is in that word so beloved by managers shafting workers, "consultation". Even this innocuous form of indigenous representation is receiving plenty of pushback from the usual easily-outraged groups.

   Reply
   • SPC 2.1

     7 March 2023 at 3:21 pm

     It's called the shadow of sovereignty, respect (for – here the indigenous group as per the UN requirement) without power (so democracy is undiminished).

     It looks like the UK PM talking to the Crown – right to be informed about what the government is up to in their name. There is a right to be advised and give advice. The UK PM can take advice on-board, or not, as they choose.

     Reply
     • tWiggle 2.1.1

       7 March 2023 at 7:32 pm

       Just a question – how is democracy diminished when such a group has more than consultative power within governance? Some of the anti-voice muttering seems to be how the reference group is assembled, that it won't be accountable because representative, but probably not elected.

       This is throughly rich when you consider the electorate shennanigans and historically rank corruption in Australian politics. And it stinks of 'THEY might bring in laws that constrain or affect US'; overlooking 250 years of the US doing exactly that to the THEM. This included actively barring First Nation and Torres Islanders from full voting rights and obligations in areas where they were more populous until 1984.

       Democracy is more nuanced than one person, one vote sometimes.

       Reply
       • SPC 2.1.1.1

         7 March 2023 at 7:47 pm

         It's simply a matter of the democratically elected government being the group ultimately accountable to the electorate for what it decides to do.

         Those who government consults with – indigenous, business groups/industry groups/employers/unions/farmers/environment groups etc – whomever is the impacted by the policy are consulted and provide advice/advocacy for their own group.

         Those who have a problem with it seem to lack perspective about how commonplace this is and how marginalised some have been from the privilege afforded to others.

         Reply
3. SPC 3

   7 March 2023 at 3:28 pm

   I can imagine what Sky TV would have said if Ardern had proposed The Voice approach here.

   When they line up against it in Oz, The Elbow will note real Australians want to be united around protection of the environment – it's land, it's waters and give everyone a fair go – but that media owned by an American imperialist advances the cause of the occupying forces of capitalism.

   Reply
   • SPC 3.1

     7 March 2023 at 8:18 pm

     Of course as the Juice Media puts it

     Labour is making a lite difference

     Reply

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