I would like to add another perspective to Michele Daly’s letter to the Editor 21 April.
It would appear that those advocating a ‘Yes’ vote to the forth coming referendum are actively spreading their story and pushing their views, even to some resorting to name calling and abuse.
This certainly was not the attitude of the letter referred to above.
I contend there must be a ‘NO’ to the question being posed as it would entrench racism into our political fabric.
I think it was Chris Merrit who said, “we are being asked to give one group of people and their descendants for all time, a constitutionally guaranteed additional influence over all areas of public policy. If you vote ‘yes’ you would be voting a certain section of our community political influence exceeding that enjoyed by every other Australian”.
We are supposedly One people united under one flag, sharing this great land.
Sure there are areas of indigenous concern, but this Voice will do nothing to help those areas of concern.
We already have numerous voices in parliament, and even those who are advocating for the change are not themselves united.
We do not want to enshrine a racial divide in this land.
Allow me to address the underlying issue in this debate.
The indigenous people are claiming they have been here as First Nation people for some 60,000 years.
It you research this, it is is disputed.
Northern aboriginal Australians can trace as much as 11 per cent of their genomes to migrants who reached this island around 4000 years ago from India. Others suggest that they came here some 45,000 years ago.
I suggest to you that there is a nation on earth today who have documented historical evidence that this world is no where near that age, in fact they have their own coinage stamped with the age of the world.
According to this nation and supported by the biblical record we are in the 5783 year.
Of course this book also provides us with the various nations and their origin following the flood of Noah’s day.
So their claim to ownership of this land is false.
It is wrong to call these people first nation people as they are tribes or as they refer to themselves from particular ‘mobs’.
They certainly were not a cohesive national people with governance of this land.
To vote yes would only perpetuate false ideas and create racial tensions that we have thus far not been experienced in this great land of the southern hemisphere.
I urge you to vote a very clear NO.
– Graeme Ellingsen,
Gympie
