With only a few months ahead now, many of us are looking forward to hearing a date announced for the Referendum regarding The Voice - the establishment of a consultative committee of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island People to ensure that our Government has access to well informed information before they make decisions regarding our First Nation and its descendants.
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It is concerning so many people seem to have no understanding of what this is all about, or are not prepared to make the effort to find out.
It is incumbent on every one of us to take a good look at both fact and fiction and the people making the public Yes and No statements.
I have yet to read in the media the actual history of what has happened to our First Nation people since the arrival of the First Settlers.
Our Education Syllabus had a subject we all studied called Australian History, which completely ignored the people who had lived here for centuries, and began with the arrival of the First Fleet.
It failed to mention the dispossession of the people who lived here, the massacres and injustices that were imposed, and the total disregard of the knowledge and experience they had in caring for the land they loved.
In other words, they failed to consult.
The Stolen Generations can never be ignored or forgotten.
Children were arbitrarily removed from their homes and families without any consultation and placed in institutional care in a mistaken effort to have them give up their Aboriginal heritage.
The effects of this are still deep within the hearts and souls of many people and possibly at the roots of drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness, unemployment and misbehavior that ends up with imprisonment.
It was not until the 1960s that Aboriginal people were recognized as citizens and allowed to vote.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart was a good effort by Parliament, but probably without Aboriginal input or consultation at the time.
Likewise, the Apology for the treatment of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait People, especially the Stolen Generation Kevin Rudd succeeded in mounting back in 2008 was a brilliant move in the right direction.
It's time now for the next movement.
The Voice is a sensible effort to help our parliamentarians make right and proper decisions on matters that affect Aboriginal People and their history.
Commonsense would indicate that if a decision needs to be made on any important issue, then advice and information would wisely be sought from people with expertise in the field.
Our Aboriginal people looked after this land for centuries and would have a treasure pack of wise and wonderful advice about issues affecting land care, floods, fires and famines.
This needs to be acknowledged and utilized in the best way possible.
Hopefully, more and more people will face up to their responsibility to come to a proper understanding of the facts underlying the Yes and No voting, and contribute to a country we can all be proud of.
God bless Australia past, present and future.
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