Although I have reservations about combining compulsory voting with a two party system, I still think that it is the least that a citizen can do... to show up and vote on matters that will affect the whole nation. However, ideally... I do think that it does need to be tweaked a bit... perhaps compulsory voting with proportional representation would be a better thing, well... at least in my current state of mind.

... and before the hyper-libertarian crowd goes nuts... you not compelled to vote. You can also just pay the relatively small fine (20 dollars...) which is the same as about 4 cups of coffee.... or you can just show up and collect your ballot papers, and then do whatever the hell you want with them. Eat them, draw pictures... literally, WHATEVER you want!

Plus, Australia does make it quite easy to vote... unlike other countries (ahem.. United States..). It is always going to be a weekend, with lots of voting locations... with easy pre-polling day voting options... and there are also cake stalls and barbeques set up at most of the polling stations as well!

So... this time around, we were voting in a referendum. A referendum is required when there are proposed changes to the Constitution. They are notoriously difficult to get passed... and you need a majority of voters, with the majority of the states as an additional check on the balance of the Federation. The last referendum was on the question of whether Australia should become a republic... and that flamed out spectacularly.

This time around, it was on the question of whether we should recognise the Aboriginal First Nations people in the Constitution AND establish a non-binding advisory "Voice" to Parliament. It was one of the key pillars of the elected Labour government... and it has been a pet topic of the Left in general. And it launched to great optimism... but in as the referendum neared, it seemed more and more likely that the changes would be sunk with a resounding "NO" vote.

As always, the "YES" proposition was going to be more difficult than the "status quo" idea... they always are. There were various strains of "NO" camps in opposition... from the Right, there was the desire not to preference a particular race over others... and there were various strains of Left leaning "NO"s, for example, the concept that the Voice was too timid and that a Treaty was needed instead.

As usual, in these campaigns... it was hard to run a nuanced thought process... and in the dying days, if you were a "YES" you were "divisive"... and if you were a "NO" then you were "racist". Sigh...

I had ducked away from most of the talk and debates over it... I just didn't want to get dragged in, and my own thoughts were my own thoughts. I sort of disliked all the sides... I didn't like the "NO" coalition, as many of them were quite at odds with my natural leanings... but I didn't like the "YES" side either, for running the "morality" angle with what I thought was a simplistic take on a larger problem.

So... Yes, I agree that there have been historical problems that have caused modern day disadvantage... but I would have thought that targeting socio-economic hardships/disadvantage at large would be the solution... any other "targeted" solution would create understandable resentment. But the sheer fact of the matter is that we (as a society) can't be arsed to tackle socio-economic disadvantage because we are too busy defending what we personally have.

Anyway, I'm not going to run a nuanced argument online... I did talk at length with my wife about it. I was disgusted by the whole thing on both the YES and NO sides... with the two proudly showing their colours... Ultimately, I think the whole thing was an ill-thought through PR campaign that allowed everyone to pick a side and to feel righteous without solving any underlying issue. Sort of like a nation-wide Facebook activism project... wear the sticker, change your profile picture, and then forget about it... job done.

Arrrgh... it drove me to complete distraction... and I think in the end, all the work and solutions will be done at the grass-roots... without the large scale stuff that campaigners and companies love to latch onto and not really care about apart from the PR hit (greenwashing for example...)... and the people that care, will fix things... and over time, we will fix it because as individuals, we make it work for the better. Not because there was some grand overarching narrative that will sell screen time and books.

... in the end, I collected my ballot, and exercised my democratic right... and wrote nothing on it.

I can also be found cross-posting at:
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Publish0x

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