Comment

Just as the history wars were fought as proxy, the referendum campaign borrowed one prejudice to express another. They were all worms in the same apple, chewing at the same mealy flesh. The enemy was always change.

Writing this, in the sorrowful days after the referendum, I am concerned the things that make me feel regretful about our politics and public policy are not so much in the past but in the future.

In the immediate aftermath of the stone-cold rejection of the Voice to Parliament and the constitutional recognition it entailed, there have been calls from all sides of the debate to initiate a treaty process now the Voice has fallen.

I cried myself to sleep, eventually, in an uncomfortable bed in an Airbnb about 4am on Saturday morning. It was not fear or anxiety; it was not concern or panic about the referendum to come, fear of an uncomfortable result; it was not a reaction to the horrific abuse myself and other Indigenous people were receiving during the referendum.

Lyle Shelton is a camphorous little man, a mothball in the drawer of Australian culture. He has been on the losing side of most debates in the past decade. It is sad to see him among the likely winners.

While there was consensus on how to create a more inclusive society for people with disability, the commissioners in the comprehensive inquiry that wrapped up last month were seriously divided on key recommendations. And that means despite the government’s initial enthusiasm for solutions from the royal commission, it may simply kick the report into the long grass, or the too-hard basket.

Today we will know. We will know what sort of country we want to be, whether the narrow path to victory for the ‘Yes’ campaign has petered out into a track to nowhere or whether, beyond the telling of every opinion poll, today will result in a rare successful referendum.

There are few forces more fundamental to human flourishing than belonging. The feeling of acceptance that comes from deep bonds of connection can be psychologically protective – an anchor steadying the ship. First Nations peoples are the oldest continuing culture on Earth, custodians of these lands for more than 65,000 years. Today, we have an opportunity to recognise that by writing the next chapter in our nation’s story.

The interesting part is the condemnation. Sky News describes the video as “disturbing”. It says it was made by “a neo-Nazi group”. The Australian calls it “racially charged” and a “Nazi horror”. Peter Dutton denounced it as “quite horrific” and “unhinged”.

The White Australia policy stands out as probably the most significant blemish on this country’s national character and unity, as well as its global reputation, with continuing consequences today. It has been said that latent racism, carrying echoes of White Australia, persists across the country and all walks of life.