One alarming aspect of the current referendum build-up and campaign has been contested facts and widespread misinformation. Julianne Schultz speculates whether The Voice to Parliament can be achieved: “In this new order where ‘facts’ are contested, different (contradictory) versions can be targeted at niche communities. The aim is to disrupt, delay, subvert and confuse. Especially to confuse”. Social media she contends, “is confusion’s optimised delivery mechanism”. And we all know uninformed, confused compulsory voting leads to NO. This trend has been continuously evident and increasing in stable democracies since the era of Trump’s America. Read her article in The Guardian on the link below. Increasingly, the campaign against The Voice is being promoted by often wacky fringe protest groups, including sovereign citizens, resulting in disharmony, threats to stability and decreasing trust in government. On the other hand, some are observing that the YES case cannot be won by facts and reason, it’s all in the emotions whipped up by either side. [“In the new order where ‘facts’ are contested, can an Indigenous voice to parliament be delivered?” by Julianne Schultz, The Guardian online, 3 September 2023]
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
