Mycelium 2023 #42 Nooooo

A few weeks ago I participated in a webinar with five possible scenarios for the Referendum on the Voice. It gave me an opportunity to prepare myself for the potential of a high no vote, which is what my electorate, state and nation produced. I expressed my anxieties about the cause of this outcome during the webinar, as being connected to mis-information, algorithms of fear, fake news and living in a post truth world.

I was worried then, and have now had those worries confirmed, about the divisions in our country around age, wealth and education. The data from the electoral profiles and voting patterns support this analysis. The more well-off, better educated, and if you are in the 25- 40 age group, you are more likely to be progressive and able to navigate your way around an argument. I doubt I will live to see another referendum, on anything. Education is vital and truth telling is a must to get us there.

I am deeply concerned about the polarisation in our country, and where those poles are, who holds the axis, and where the messy middle and if that might be the best place to boost civil conversation. There is a deep and dark underbelly that needs to be exposed and while I might run the risk of being seen as having a conspiracy theory running, I have always found it useful to “follow the money” when looking to see who supports a campaign. If you want a deep dive into who was pouring money into the No campaign, I encourage you to read this article by author Jane Mayer, who details the sources of funding for campaigns and the lack of political will to address. Without legislation for truth in political adversiting, and without clear and visible accounting for where political donations come from, I am confident we have just witnessed the successful beta testing of instruments and methodologies to disrupt the foundations of our democracy.

I thought Aussies laconic, and genuine belief in the ‘fair go’ might have been enough to inoculate us against the worst of a Trumpian post-truth world. This morning, though, I have a heaviness that comes from having to relinquish this romantic notion. I feel numb today.

While the YES campaign has outed and discovered four out of ten Australians who support recognition of our First Peoples in our constitution, and I do see that as s big step in the right direction, I am so disheartened with the way mis-information and plain lies were peddled and then believed.

We will witness the dissecting of the campaigns over the coming days, and while I have my own views on what worked and what didn’t and why, these are distractions. The main game is to understand , and then work out how to strengthen democracy with better questions, more civil and respectful debate and enabling voters to discern fact from fiction, lean into kindness and compassion.

So much bizarre behaviour during this period of the referendum that we have seen echoing the behaviour of Sovereign Citizens. It has been very well documented by the Australian Electoral Commission. Exactly the same behaviours we saw during US elections since Hilary Clinton all the way to the lobby of the City of Onkaparinga during my election. There is plenty to google to find out more, here is just one and here is another, this one is the AEC Commissioner on Ray Hadley’s 2GB radio show, Australia’s most listened morning show. I could go on and on, but the lack of fact checking was dreadful and was evident in the publicly funded referendum booklet sent to all voters. As a bare minimum we need to take steps to ensure the AEC has the power and resources to fact check and disallow from distribution any lies being peddled during election.

My friends who have been on the front line, and are always on the front line, because they are First Nations, and who advocate and work daily to close the gaps, I say sorry and I promise to continue to walk with you. To my friends who voted no, and I honestly don’t know who you are, but I must know some of you, I haven’t stopped having the conversation with you and I expect you to step up and do your bit to close the gap, which starts with listening. I am tired and sad today. The vote has revealed to the world who we are and revealed to oursleves what messages we listen to, which ones we check and most importantly whose voice counts. Over 80% of 3% of the country are First Nations and their voices have been drowned out by the majority.

In leadership we have the job of bringing everyone along with us, this tiny group of outstanding Aboriginal leaders have raised up so many young voices in this campaign, have helped non-Aboriginal people to add their voices to the campaign, all the while with such incredible grace, tenacity and generosity. We now know that four out of ten Australians are with you. This is the mycelium to build on, the threads we can connect and strengthen, the foundations for more justice and equity.

Prof Tom Calma, one of the co-writers of the report leading to the Voice proposition warned of the problems with mis-information and malice and as I watched him give his response to the result, he once again schooled us in dignity.

I’m taking solace in a brief encounter with world winning debator Bo Seo this week. We talked about polarisation, good disagreement, the roles in a debating competition of player, adjudicator and moderator. The moderator is the person whose role is to act as a neutral participant in a debate or discussion, holds participants to time limits and tries to keep them from straying off the topic of the questions being raised in the debate. This role is missing from our civic discourse, with the exception perhaps of Sarah Ferguson, we desperately need more moderators in our media.

At the event I met Bo, the Asia Pacific Cities Summit and Mayors Forum, Mayors and civic leaders asked me about acknowledgment of country and respect being paid to elders and the polls showing no to the Voice. They couldn’t understand why the anomaly …. I don’t either.

There is a direct correlation between the Uluru Statement from the Heart and life outcomes for First Peoples. I continue to accept the invitation and continue to say yes.

Always was always will be.