The constitution

THE proclaimed threat to the constitution posed by a Yes vote in the upcoming referendum is just smoke and mirrors. A diversion. 

Having read our “precious” constitution (as some refer to it), it’s clear that if it were literally applied the Governor General would be the chief honcho.

There would be no Prime Minister, no cabinet and no opposition. The GG would exercise executive power, be military commander-in-chief, make all appointments, frame the budget and veto legislation.

There is no reference to democracy in the constitution or democratic practice or what happens after an election.

The constitution is a straight-up racist document – an expression of Australia having been “discovered” and subsequently settled. Implicit in the constitution is “the passing of Aborigines”.

It is all about maintaining the peace and good conduct of white Australia and Queen Victoria’s realm.

The overt racist howls of the Howards, Duttons and Abbotts are normal and a universally expected response from power and privilege. The recruitment of collaborators and native police has been normal practice throughout history and across the world.

What is not so normal and somewhat unique to Australia, as many observers have alluded to, is the breadth to which racism has become embedded in the DNA of our society over the past 200 odd years and the depth to which it is concealed by silence, indifference and willful ignorance.

There is no better descriptor of that indifference and ignorance than “if you don’t know, vote no”. 

It's like a mass intellectual or psychological disability afflicting our society that will remain untreatable as long as it remains hidden.

I have no doubt that the result of this referendum will be a measure of the degree to which subconscious racism afflicts our various communities.

Tony Stewart, Trafalgar