One Nation Says "No" to Howard's Referendum Proposal

One Nation will advise a  "no" vote to John Howard's aboriginal referendum proposal.

For a start it's  divisive:  it divides Australia into   indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.

(By the way, anyone born in Australia is actually "indigenous", and by definition "reconciliation" is only possible between two people or peoples who were conjoined  in the first place.)

If aborigines are to be recognised as "special",   then what pray follows from that?

Will child abuse in aboriginal communities miraculously disappear ?

Will alcoholism and petrol sniffing be in an instant wiped away ?

Will the chronically unemployed in  aboriginal communities immediately walk into  jobs?

Does John Howard  intend to resurrect the failed ATSIC, or a  facsimile thereof ?

On the contrary it will be back to the bad old days of "secret womens' business",  hand-outs, sit-down money,  land-grabs, the bottomless pit of the aboriginal welfare racket and an interminable debate about who is and who is not an aborigine.

An interesting polnt  is that the times One Nation ran part  aboriginal candidates in elections,  in  Wyong and Blue Mountains in 1999 and Macquarie in 2001, Liberal, Labor,  The Greens and Democrats  all put them last on their how-to-votes.

Which probably is a reflection on the true nature  of these  parties.