The first big step towards division

The Voice is a package deal.

That’s a fact.

The Albanese Government has been very clear that they are committed to implementing the full Uluru Statement, which includes “Treaty” and “Truth Telling”. Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said the Voice was a “first step” towards those things.

And thanks to the Freedom of Information Act we can now see what’s in the package deal.

It’s proof that the Voice really is about division, it really is about putting race at the centre of our politics, and it puts us on a path to dismantling Australia as we know it.

The FOI revealed the secret documents from the Uluru Dialogues that informed the Referendum Council’s final report and the Uluru Statement from the Heart which is the justification for the divisive Voice referendum.

So what’s in store for us with a Treaty?

The Council’s final report says:

“Treaty could include a proper say in decision-making, the establishment of a truth commission, reparations, a settlement, the resolution of land, water and resources issues, recognition of authority and customary law”

But the FOI documents show what’s been left out. Their version of what should be included says:

“Treaty could include a proper say in decision-making, the establishment of a truth commission, reparations, a financial settlement (such as seeking a percentage of GDP), the resolution of land, water and resources issues, recognition of authority and customary law”

That part about “seeking a percentage of GDP” for financial settlement just got taken out.

And you can guess why: because if Australians knew that’s where this was heading there’s no way they’d vote for it.

But here’s the thing: no one advocating for the divisive Voice, no one on the Referendum Council has ruled this out. 

In another section of the secret documents a delegate justifies requests for financial settlements like seeking a percentage of GDP with:

“Australia got a whole country for nothing, they haven’t even begun to pay for it.”

Is this the unity the Prime Minister keeps talking about?

But it gets worse.

According to these documents, some of the delegates want to abolish the Australian flag, because “the Australian flag symbolised the injustices of colonisation”.

So is that part of the Treaty too? Is that what the Voice will be working on?

Why haven’t these extreme and divisive ideas been ruled out?

Why have the politicians and activists in Canberra pursued a version of the Voice that has maximum powers with complete freedom to pursue these dangerous ideas?

Albo and others can say until they’re red in the face that they’re proposing a “modest” change.

But these secret documents show it’s anything but. From the outset the goal has been to change Australia in a fundamental way. In a more divisive way. So we’re no longer one country together, but two divided.

And if that’s not the case: let’s hear it from Albo. Are these things on the table or are they not?

Australians deserve to know before they change our nation’s rulebook forever.