Bravo Jacinta Price! One of many Indigenous population wanting more detail and a different approach.
On July 1 my term as Senator for the Northern Territory officially began, and already I'm dealing with the left's woke nonsense.
Rather than focus on solutions for the REAL issues, our new government is more concerned with its own virtue signalling.
Let me make this one clear for the Adam Bandts and Anthony Albaneses of the world: just because someone is Indigenous does not automatically make them marginalised.
I'm tired of the paternalistic and condescending narrative that says that by virtue of lineage, Indigenous Australians are somehow in need of help and incapable of success without the aid of some privileged inner-city lefty.
Simply having Indigenous heritage doesn't automatically make someone disadvantaged.
In Australia, we have a growing Indigenous middle class, successful people lucky enough to have the advantage of the generous education system, services and employment opportunities that our great nation has to offer ALL Australians.
They've done that WITHOUT a constitutional Indigenous "voice" to parliament, they've done it WITHOUT a treaty, and they've done it WITHOUT any need for some hero-complex lefty's virtue signalling.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again - a constitutional "voice" to parliament is redundant. The Australian people have freely elected TEN Indigenous Australians to Federal Parliament.
According to the recent census, Indigenous Australians account for 3.2 per cent of the population - they now make up 4.5 per cent of the Australian Federal Parliament.
You don't need a constitutionally mandated representation for a group overrepresented in Parliament.
Yes, many of the most marginalised in our country are Aboriginal, but the "gap" is not only between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
It lies between successful Aboriginals and marginalised Aboriginals just as much as it does between successful and marginalised people of ALL backgrounds.
It lies in the more remote Indigenous communities where our nation's most disadvantaged live, not in the big cities. Out there they're not concerned with virtue signalling or flag waving, they don't need smoking ceremonies or acknowledgments of country.
In those communities where English is not the primary language is spoken, where education is not adequate, where jobs are limited and welfare is rife, that's where the gap is the widest.
And you don't need a new "voice" to parliament to tell you that.
There are plenty of voices telling us that now, and they're being ignored by the political elite trying to win woke social points.
Instead of making this about race, instead of virtue signalling for political gain, we need to focus our efforts on the REAL problems, with REAL solutions to improve the lives of marginalised Australians - no matter their background.
We should be focussing on ensuring that ALL Australian children can adequately read, write and speak English to gain an education that leads to employment.
I don't know how many times I need to call on Australian leaders to focus on the REAL problems, but I'll continue to do so until they listen - because we need them now.
Yours for REAL solutions,
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
Senator N.T.
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