Love is Love
Yesterday, enrollment for the plebiscite closed and voting now can being in earnest.
Everyone has read the rhetoric; this plebiscite should never have happened but now that we have we may as well go on with it. It shouldn't cost 122 million, the ABS shouldn't be handling it after the census debacle and why are we even bothering if it's not even binding.
We should bother because it makes a difference.
We should bother because it makes a difference.
The plebiscite as a whole is unprecedented, giving Australian a tangible chance to voice our views to our government.
The optional nature of this vote is a double edge sword. With a strong voter turnout we can show the government that we truly care about this issue but on the other hand a low voter turnout will weaken the validity of any result, particularly a yes result.
It is also a chance for young people to prove the adage that young people don't care about society wrong. Make no mistake, this plebiscite will show a clear generational divide.
Failure to vote in the upcoming plebiscite will effectively annul our right to further protest about this policy and to a lesser extent government policy in general.
A while back I paid five dollars (with a twenty cent handling charge) to see Julian Burnside QC speak about Australians and our attitude towards refugees. Burnside was introduced to a sold out room full of mostly (bleary eyed) first year law students as "one of the leading voices for human rights and Australia's treatment of refugees."
In his speech, Burnside was extensively critical of Australia's policy towards the refugees and asylum seekers in detention. Rather than criticise the public and society in general, he was openly critical of the government and the policy that multiple cabinets has set. At the end of the session, I wanted to ask Burnside what does it say about Australia as a whole if we keep on voting in multiple governments who implement such extremely negative refugee policies.
It is easy to constantly criticize the government for its policy, but taking no proactive action and electing repetitive governments that has the same policy and then screaming for change after the fact seems borderline negligent to me.
The difference between the equality issue and refugees is that we never had this plebiscite. This is a real chance for Australian to speak up and force the government to listen to its people.
So I urge you, in this coming plebiscite to vote. For the affirmative or negative, it doesn't matter, but it is important for Australians to make their voices heard beyond endless protests after the fact.
~TastyJack~
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