Letters and short takes

One would hope perhaps that he is already feeling sorry for what he has done and maybe also even some sense of regret for what he has inflicted on Australia.

AS a keen observer of, and passionate participant in, political campaigns for more than six decades, I have no doubt that the strategies of the 'no' campaign were far superior to those of the affirmative.

The decision to limit the delivery of the negative message primarily to two prominent Indigenous advocates, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine, was a game changer. Conversely, the 'yes' case was prosecuted by a myriad of Indigenous and non-Indigenous presenters, including the prime minister, resulting in a confusing message. It allowed 'no' proponents to assert the agenda was Anthony Albanese's. The 'yes' case would have benefited by following the 'no' lead and employing a two-headed' team. Ken Wyatt, the highly respected former Minister for Indigenous Affairs and the first Aboriginal man to be a federal minister, and Rachel Perkins, the daughter of longtime campaigner for improvements to the living standards of indigenous Australians, would have been a perfect double act.

It may not have altered the result, but it would have enabled the 'yes' case to be more focused and prevented the 'no' case from focusing on Albanese. It would have also limited the opportunity to criticise proponents like Marcia Langton and Noel Pearson as being privileged and out of touch.

In Australia, all rural residents have a life expectancy shorter than their urban counterparts. Children by Year 10 are expected to be behind their city counterparts in education. Personally, with a small brain tumour, my wait time to see a doctor to get painkillers is at six weeks. Nowhere in the debate over a Voice to Parliament for Indigenous people did Labor discuss the rural disadvantage that all rural residents face.

I believe the reason is quite simple; as rural areas predominantly vote with the Coalition, for decades Labor have systematically punished rural areas. They have cut spending, centralised services away from our regions and furthered the gap in education and health between city and country people. I find Labor significantly responsible for the disadvantage all rural communities face, particularly Indigenous Australians.

Indeed, one only needs to look at the cuts introduced by the Minns government in NSW through their recent state budget to see that rural people were expected to make the cuts needed for their expenditure.

I believe the failure of the Voice in regional Australia was simply because most rural people knew far too well that Labor would never deliver for rural people, Indigenous or not, regardless of what a Voice to Parliament recommended. It isn't in the DNA of the Labor party to want to help rural or regional Australians.

THANK goodness common sense has prevailed. This highly divisive, politically motivated referendum is up there as a monumental waste of hundreds of millions of dollars with Rudd's pink batts and Gillard's school room disasters.

As for Linda Burney saying a full audit of where the $40 billion each year of taxpayers money goes is not necessary, why not? It's plain too much money is going to too many administrative snouts and not where it's meant to go. A full audit and good shake-up is urgently needed to stop the rot once and for all, and for the prime minister to put his efforts into getting his priorities right in serving all of us, not devoting so much time on the Indigenous minority, much as I agree they need all the help they can get.

$400 million squandered on this ridiculous referendum. That equates to a house and car in a good suburb for 400 disadvantaged families. What a leg up that would be to help get off the welfare merry-go-round. We look at these enormous amounts of money that our government throws away on such a monumental scale, as just a number. It's time to start looking at these numbers at what they are in real terms, and hold them accountable.

THANK heaven for Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's courageous leadership during the past year. And thank heaven for Aussies' refusal to bow to the bullies. I've heard PM Albo say repeatedly during his wasteful, divisive, ugly campaign that good things will happen when we listen to Indigenous voices. Now he needs to stop the crap and start listening to that wonderful woman.

THE victory of the 'no' vote says much about our nation's psyche. It seems colonialism and racism is still with us and nothing has changed for the first Australians. To the 'no' voters I ask, what are you going to do to improve the lot of the Indigenous?' I suspect the answer will be nothing. Saturday cast a shadow over white Australia. Some respect and compassion for the first Australians would not be out of place. My hope is there will be a future effort to meet their needs.

SANITY prevails! The 'no' 'vote wins in a landslide. Albo's obsession with his race-based referendum over the last few months got what it deserved. Now maybe he can get on with our real problems that he has ignored for months: fuel, cost of living power. Close to $400 million for this stupid referendum. What a waste of our hard-earned tax money. I believe Albo and Burney should both resign.

SO the referendum is decided, and there has been a resounding win for the 'no' vote. I wonder, now that the tumult and shouting is over, whether some who voted 'no' feel a little like the UK people who voted for an exit from the European union; i.e. "What have we done?"