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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 27, 2023

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Would this be something like the Sámi Parliament? (Also discussed here.) If it's not elected, how is it selected?

The short answer is 'we have no idea'. I have to stress that the what exactly the Voice's powers would be or how it would be structured has not been specifically outline. As presented, this will only be decided on after the fact if the referendum succeeds (classic 'voters won't even know what they're voting for' scenario. Despite pushing from the Opposition Leader for the Government to release draft legislation so people actually know what they're voting on in practice, (woke) 'constitutional experts' have come out of the woodwork and been amplified by media about how releasing draft legislation to the public is totally a bad thing because it will just 'confuse' voters and undermine support for the Voice.

All we can say with certainty is that:

  • The Voice will be a constitutionally enshrined government body that has some degree of influence over legislation

  • The Voice will be made up of Indigenous representatives who were not voted for or appointed (directly or indirectly) by the general Australian public

In practice, it seems like the selection process for the members of the Voice would likely be some combination of appointees from existing Indigenous councils/assemblies/corporations and some elections held specifically by and for Indigenous people in a given area.

All we can say with certainty is that...

I would observe that an absolutely minimal reading of your items here would match the level of representation of DC, the Northern Mariana Islands, US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico in the US House: each is allowed a delegate with no voting power. In theory a "voice", but in practice basically no actual power.

An important difference worth noting here is that that meh-voice is all the Puerto Ricans have and would be replaced, not supplemented, with real Congressional representation if Puerto Rico became a state.

Aboriginal Australians already have Parliamentary representation; they get to vote for MPs and Senators just like anyone else. And it's not like their wide distribution doesn't result in any Aboriginal MPs or Senators; they're overrepresented in Parliament relative to their proportion of the population. One would sensibly conclude that they don't need any additional "voice".

From what I can tell from Twitter, advocates say that that's the sort of detail that will be decided subsequently by legislation.

Given the problems in Australia of deciding who is sufficiently Indigenous, I would imagine that the approach would just be to appoint "community leaders", who will then be happy about being paid for having a more prominent voice about Australian federal legislation and being able to declare policies they disapprove as "anti-Indigenous" (officially). So, it seems to be an exercise in what is described as "steam control" in The Bonfire of the Vanities - invest money in self-appointed "representatives" of groups, since these "representatives" have the power to unleash "steam" on politicians.