If the 1999 republic referendum got crushed by an “unholy alliance” between monarchists and direct electionists, the Voice referendum was repudiated by an unprincipled union between the separatist Indigenous left and the reactionary right – though the right’s opposition was more electorally impactful.
The reactionary right wants assimilation. No special place for Indigenous people can be accommodated – let’s even get rid of Welcomes to Country, some “No” proponents have argued.
At the other extreme, the separatist left seeks Indigenous “sovereignty”. It rejects any Indigenous inclusion in Australia’s “racist and colonial” Constitution, the authority of which it disputes – although the figurehead of the Blak Sovereign Movement, Lidia Thorpe, is open to “infiltrating” the Australian political system in other ways, including by being a federal senator.
