Address the inequalities

BY all means, the Prime Minister and many others can brand me a racist for opposing the Voice.

Like Peta Credlin (“Hostage to racist, divisive proposal”, SHS, 26/3), I too believe it to be “by far the most racist announcement in my lifetime”.

As a 17-year-old too young to vote, I campaigned for a “Yes” vote in the 1967 referendum to include Indigenous Australians as citizens.

But in 2023, Australians must think seriously and rationally about the reality of reference to an individual race in our Constitution, however racially disadvantaged.

Far more worthwhile would be to orchestrate investment funds into genuine areas of discrimination, after hearing what the workers in those areas say is really needed.

Obviously, governments for decades have failed to redress the disadvantage, but no Voice will change that unless these workers at the coalface are heard.

Warren Mundine has rightly pointed out that scores of Aboriginal organisations already exist to foster development and opportunities for their people, but somehow, the solutions to so many problems remain elusive.

We need to address those problems realistically to try and find solutions, and that goes beyond a Voice in our Constitution.