We need action, not a Voice

Last month, two of our most giving Central Coast community members died. Each practised the conviction that learning and its expression are at the heart of a fulfilling life.

For Anne Brack it was drawing and painting.

She could have spent all her free time producing wonderful pictures but instead she gave much of it to work unpaid through local arts groups, advising and critiquing to the benefit of others.

For Bob Puffett it was learning on a broader scale, but especially technical skills and their application in the workforce.

Though retired from leadership in TAFE for two decades, Bob maintained his involvement both locally and nationally, encouraging young people to explore their interests for possible careers.

And they had even more important qualities in common—gentleness, warmth and modesty, and a love of the Central Coast as home.

Those of us who knew Anne and Bob well have lost two dear friends.

At the same time, our Central Coast community has been deprived of two of its best contributors.

Email, Jun 2

I would like to commend Linda Telisman for her thorough research into the Voice (CCN 392).

Her comments and observations exposed many compelling reasons for voters to be sceptical about voting for the Voice.

I share her scepticism, even though her list of compelling reasons is far from complete. However, I think Linda may have made a miscalculation or perhaps a typing error, when she said: “There are already 11 Aboriginal MPs in parliament, more than 300 Aboriginal organisations that receive millions of dollars to act (as a Voice)”.

These organisations actually receive many billions of dollars each year, not millions.

In contrast to Linda’s frightening revelations, the “yes vote” campaign has given very few details and not even one single, specific, practical action that the Voice will be doing to benefit any Aboriginal at all. That is probably because the Federal Government has made it very clear, by repeatedly saying that everything will be worked out after the referendum vote.

That declaration has been confirmed by the designer of the main Voice model, Tom Calma. The Government’s most