Campaigners for Constitutional Change Failing to Learn From the Past

“Vote NO” campaign signage is seen outside a polling centre on Oct. 7, 2023 in Perth, Australia. A referendum for Australians to decide on an indigenous voice to parliament will be held on Oct. 14, 2023 and compels all Australians to vote by law. Early voting began on Oct. 2, with voting getting underway in all states. Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

Commentary

“If you don’t understand it, don’t vote for it.”

That was former Prime Minister Paul Keating’s devastating appeal to the Australian people which helped destroy the centre-right Liberal Party’s, “Fightback and GST,” policy some 30 years ago.

It led to then-Liberal leader John Hewson losing the unlosable election in 1993.

Questions about how the Liberals’ Fightback plan would work in practice and how it would improve lives and household budgets were answered with esoteric and convoluted responses.

At its initial launch, support for the Fightback plan was high and well-received. The Australian people felt something needed to happen to reboot the economy.

However, once the detail was examined and found wanting, the support for the Fightback plan soon dissipated.

It seems the lesson of history so painfully learned by the Liberals in 1993 has been completely lost and wasted on their Labor and Green counterparts in 2023 when it comes to The Voice proposal for altering the Constitution.

The initial embrace of the concept led to a euphoric and unrealistic expectation of continuing overwhelming support. As such the idea that there may need to be a full explanation of its workings appears to have never been contemplated.

The “vibe” would simply be good enough, it was thought.

But in reality, it was not so, if the latest polls are an indication, showing that support for The Voice is not present in any age demographic.

Voice referendum advertising by the Australian Government is displayed at Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 2, 2023. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Attacking Views Pushes People Away

In the face of the steady decline in support for The Voice, those supporting the “No” campaign have been subjected to unbecoming divisive vitriol by the leadership and public spokespeople for the “Yes” campaign.

Every campaign and its supporters will have their outliers, which the respective leaderships would prefer to do without.

But when the vitriol comes from leaders, and those who are invited to speak at public forums who resort to name-calling of the vilest form, all while preaching “unity peace, and love”—the Australian people are entitled to question the whole concept and the rationale for jamming a whole new chapter into our Constitution.

Apparently reading from prepared notes, prominent entertainment personality Ray Martin recently joined the conga line of Yes campaigners who believe personal denigration of their fellow Australians will endear their campaign to the undecided voter.

Being inherently decent, Australians are rightly repulsed at the ugliness of Mr. Martin’s derogatory comments as they have been with those made by leading Yes campaigners Noel Pearson and Marcia Langton.

The frustration of Yes campaigners is understandable, given the sizeable collapse in voter support for their cause. But it is no excuse to belittle and name-call those who hold an alternate opinion.

Demonstrators hold signs and placards as they attend a rally in Sydney on Sept. 23, 2023, to show their opposition to landmark Indigenous reform ahead of an Oct. 14 referendum. David Gray/AFP via Getty Images

The Yes campaigners seem to have adopted the losing strategy that helped Hilary Clinton snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in her bid for the U.S. presidency when she decried those supporting her opponent as “deplorable.”

Respect for one’s opponents is a hallmark of a civilised society and individual. Calling opponents “dinosaurs” and other choice descriptors is neither civilised nor edifying.

And if you get carried away in the moment, then have the decency to apologise rather than excruciatingly double down and draw further attention to your inability to mount a considered rationale for your side.

Disagree by all means. Arguing, debating, and probing the ideas and arguments of opposing views is healthy and encouraged in a robust democracy.

Mr. Keating was credited with a killer cut-through line when he told our fellow Australians not to vote for something that had not been fully explained to them.

Drawing on that terminology and the inherently practical nature of Australians, Mr. Keating won the day.

Interesting that certain people in the commentariat in 1993 didn’t describe Mr. Keating in the colourful language they are now using against those employing the same turn of phrase to such devastating effect to The Voice.

The similarities between the Fightback and The Voice campaigns are there for all to see.

Time will tell whether history will repeat itself on Oct. 14, 2023.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.