Don't use the Voice referendum to deliver a protest vote

A "no" vote will be a symptom of a much greater malaise. We have a democracy with two major parties eternally shadow boxing each other with much noise, smoke and mirrors.

We have great corporations dominating our economy and politics. Many of them are foreign owned, shipping profits offshore while feigning allegiance to our wellbeing.

A despicably fraudulent fear campaign is run about a potential war with China in order to justify the transfer of billions of dollars into the pockets of armaments manufacturers.

While the "best and brightest" mill around in the halls of power, the think tanks, the universities, the military and the media dish up an unending diet of tripe about the "national interest".

Meanwhile our teeth are rotting, we can't get necessary medical care, our schools are underfunded, young people can't afford homes and are saddled with debt. All this when the cost of food, heat and transport is eye watering.

Most people know climate change is about to upend their fragile grip on a normal life but can't afford to do too much about it.

I hope, for the sake of our First Nations people that Australians put aside their anger and vote to give the truly dispossessed a voice. It's a small but necessary step. The big steps must be taken later.

I agree with your editorial "Latest politician pay rise is in the nose" (September 2). As I see it our current crop of federal politicians has let us down badly.

The Albanese government was elected on the understanding that, among other things, they would take real action on climate change. I also hoped that they would see sense and scrap the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal and the stage 3 tax cuts.

Albo and co have let me - and, I contend, all Australians - down badly. Imagine how much our health system, affordable housing, our outdated transport infrastructure and numerous other needs could have been paid for with $368 billion, the minimum cost of the six submarines, and $300 billion, the estimated cost over 10 years of the stage three tax cuts.

I, for one, feel betrayed.

I recently came across the Liberal Party's 1969 election policy. It stated: "We do not intend to take the easy way of deciding everything for the Aboriginals, and telling them what they are to do and what they are to be. Instead, we will take the slower and better way of consulting them, and working out plans in accordance with their real wishes".

It emphasised "consulting" and "their real wishes". In 2004 the LNP government abolished the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and in 2023 the LNP wants Australians to vote "no" in the Voice referendum.

It looks like the modern Liberal Party leadership has regressed with their recognition of and consultation with First Nations people since 1960s?

It is hard to give credence to Ray Armstrong's suggestion (Letters, September 6) that Albanese and Dutton publicly debate the Voice given Senator Burney refuses to debate Senator Price.

You do not need to be a savant to predict that outcome.

Frequently we are directed to "the gap" which is sometimes substantiated by cherry-picked data. It is rarely noted that Aboriginal people have a lower per capita rate of deaths in custody than the general population.

Life expectancy and suicide rates are also often cited. Well what about male Australians? We live four years less than females and suicide at three times the rate.

This is usually blamed on poor lifestyle choices. A case of blaming the victim.

If you live in remote areas you cannot expect a TAFE or a teaching hospital at the end of your driveway.

Nor does the future look bright if you won't move to where work is available or make sure your kids go to school.

Various media have incorrectly reported along these lines, "The Australian music legend John Farnham has lent his iconic song You're the Voice to the referendum's 'yes' campaign".

It is not Farnham's song. He, among numerous others, simply sang it.

The song was written, no doubt to the chagrin of those who claim it as Australia's unofficial national anthem, by four British songwriters, led by the lead singer in Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Chris Thompson.

The song was inspired by a protest march for nuclear disarmament in London's Hyde Park on October 25, 1985.

Recent publicity over Farnham's gift of his song to the "yes" campaign has said Farnham had not previously allowed the song to be used in advertisements.

Well someone did because it was used in a 2012 advertisement to promote Ford's SYNC voice control system.

I think I have fathomed out the reason for the Greens-Labor government's strategy for allowing the breeding of rabbits on City Hill. They make an excellent food bank right in the middle of the city.

My suggestion is not to stop at just rabbits, but to construct a rabbit and feral animal proof fence right around the Hill. They could then introduce pigs, goats, deer, perhaps camels and even foxes to keep the rabbit numbers under control.

This feral animal food bank could then be marketed widely as a tourist attraction both nationally and internationally.

Or, as the ACT government has not demonstrated that it is able to manage open space and urban landscapes, they could just leave City Hill to the pigs as per George Orwell's Animal Farm scenario.

It's no surprise that the Legislative Assembly would not debate the bill to exempt GP practices from payroll tax. Ms Lee's bill warranted a politically neutral reaction from the Assembly.

Labor/Greens have little to no understanding of the realities of delivering a high input cost service such as a GP surgery.

A hope to increase bulk billing to 65 per cent of patients in a GP practice is ludicrous and a cynical misuse of the payroll tax issue.

And, on cosy assembly member salaries of $200,000 plus, an extra $20 for attending a GP (driving to and from in a taxpayer subsidised vehicle) is inconsequential.

If I was unsure of the use-by-date on my yoghurt, Peter Dutton's "if you don't know, say no" would be helpful. But it's not at all helpful in guiding my vote in our upcoming referendum.

In other parts of my life, if I don't know, I google reputable experts, I read, I ask people I respect for advice. I try to understand.

If I always just said no, my life would be very limited indeed. And it's limits on lives that are at stake in the upcoming Voice referendum.

The stakes are high, a point not lost on Indigenous Australians. That's why polling consistently indicates that 80 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians say "yes" to the Voice. It would provide an opportunity for them to be heard on matters that impact them.

If you're not sure that voting yes will improve the lives of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders neighbours, go to the Voice website and get in the know.

The article "Australia Post's future is uncertain. But key reforms could save it" (September 1) advances a few ways Australia Post can be made profitable.

Among these is expanding it into a bank and providing it with a cash injection. Both are excellent ideas. In light of major banks closing branches in the ACT and regional areas, this would be an opportune time to bring back community-style banking.

As for the cash injection, it's ridiculous that a Prime Minister can interfere in its leadership over bonuses despite the government having no money in the game. These methods would help offset the losses from postal services.

This government and the previous one think that it's vital to prop up Qantas. It's just as vital to prop up the organisation that it's likely more Australians are served by on a weekly basis and employs people here rather than off-shoring some of its work.

Perhaps the "no" vote people could use Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs' song Poison Ivy as their theme song?

The federal opposition have shown they could not be trusted to adopt a supportive and fair-minded role in a chook raffle let alone a second referendum. Dutton's latest and deliberately befuddling serve, dressed up as an election promise, also illustrates how wasteful the Opposition is prepared to be to enforce its top-down views.

Re Mr Stripp's car purchase analogy (Letters, September 4). Voting "yes" can be more accurately characterised as acknowledging the vehicle you have driven into the ground for years and years was stolen and that the original owners were never compensated or recognised for their loss.

As Mark Kenny wrote (September 3) "how low can the 'no' campaign go". Someone has graffitied a large "no" on the road at the main entrance to Crace on the lower end of Abena street off Gundaroo Drive. It reveals the desperation of the "no" camp.

As a segue to Morrison's vindictive "robodebt" debacle, focusing on Australia's less fortunate, his politically motivated $36.4 billion raid on super came directly from the Coalition's mission hymnbook ("Early super access to be harder in new bill", September 2).

Farnham's "you're the voice, try and understand it" is the perfect proactive response to the apathetic cop out, "If you don't know, vote 'no'."

I see that the pharmacists are saying that if doctors are granted a payroll tax exemption they should have one also. Given that it is well known doctors and pharmacists are represented by two of the most militant unions in Australia (the AMA and the Pharmacy Guild) I'm surprised they pay any taxes at all.

The Qatar saga seems to show that the head of Qantas had a very effective voice to the Australian government. And some of us fret about an Aboriginal Voice to the Parliament.

Re "Pharmacists kicked out of question time as politicians clash over 60-day dispensing change" (September 4). Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. This appalling behaviour does the pharmacists no good whatsoever.

I was surprised to learn that changes to the Greens' party constitution will create a new position of deputy leader. I thought Andrew Barr already held that position.

In the referendum campaign, I haven't come across statements from persons like Paul Keating, Bill Hayden, Julia Gillard, John Hewson, and Scott Morrison. I would sincerely like to know their views. I apologise if I have missed them.