The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Thursday 26th, 2023
Australia Contemplates a new Parliamentary ‘Voice’ – But it may have a dark side by Murray Hunter
One of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s primary election promises last year was to hold a referendum on the question of establishing an “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s Voice” within the federal parliament to provide constitutional recognition to indigenous Australians and an avenue to give advice on how indigenous lives could be improved. To pass, this requires an overall majority of voters to approve the plebiscite, along with a majority of votes in at least four out of the six states.
Setting up a ‘voice’ within the Australian parliament was a key recommendation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a 12-paragraph document written by and endorsed by 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders in 2017. Within the document was a call to change the Constitution to improve the representation of indigenous Australian views to the parliament.
If successful, the referendum, which is due sometime later this year or in early 2024, would enable the present government through the parliament to determine and structure the resulting advisory body the way it wants. To date, the Albanese government has not given any specifics about how it would actually be structured and operate.
Traditionally, the Australian Electoral Office (AEO) posts to voters a summary of both the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ arguments before a referendum, with opposing arguments written by parliamentarians on either side of the issue. However, Albanese has proposed eliminating the ‘yes/no’ case pamphlets, claiming that ‘modern technology’ allows parliamentarians to express their views directly to the public, knowhow which was unavailable earlier.
Continue reading HERE!
I beg #poem by Bohdan Yuri
“I beg my will to show me still
the simple strength from within,
that I may hold on beyond the end
and not fall weak to wanting trends.”
Continue reading HERE
Ghostin’ #56 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas
For more Ghostin’ HERE!
For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!
Ovi magazine
We cover every issue!
No comments:
Post a Comment