For the first time I can remember, I disagree with Greg Sheridan. He was writing in the Australian the other day that if the Liberal party persisted with its wishy-washy attitude on the Voice, refusing to oppose it and flirting with a conscience vote to avoid taking a position, then ‘it ought to just go out of business’. He was wrong. Why? Because a political party cannot go out of business if it is no longer in business. And you need go no further than the Voice to see how true it is that the Liberal party has gone out of business. In fact, it is now stranded somewhere between voluntary administration and liquidation and on the way down to the last circle of hell in commercial life: the winding up. And all because it cannot see that opposing and defeating the proposal for a racist Voice is a matter of great principle, that the principle at stake is the democratic basis of our system of government and that if it wants to retain a shred of respect, the Liberal party must declare unequivocally that it is opposed to the destruction of that system of government by means of the Voice or any other means.

It keeps asking for detail, but as an old and wise English judge said when he was told that the law was in need of reform, ‘Aren’t things bad enough as they are?’ What more does the Liberal party need before gathering up its skirts and making a decision, actually saying yes or no to a straightforward proposition? The party must know that the whole proposal is indefensible, no matter what detail is dredged up.

First, it is racist, because it gives a vote only to people of one race, while all other races are excluded, as if we were writing an electoral law for the old apartheid South Africa. It is also unnecessary because there are now so many Aboriginal voices that you can scarcely see the sun for them. In fact, the official plan is not simply to have one big Voice, but also a whole lot of little voices, one in every state and region! After all, why settle for one Voice when you can have the whole choir? Poor Aboriginals; they must already be the most over-governed race on earth. And as the Voice would go into the constitution, it will be permanent; can you imagine another campaign to take it out? The Voice and its members and acolytes will grow rich on the permanent employment, as the Voice will never accept rejection of any of its demands; they will be repeated until they are granted. And the Voice will have power to speak on all matters ‘relating to’ Aboriginals, but isn’t that everything?

If that proposal itself were not bad enough, it is now emerging as the final product of a very disturbing process of secrecy. There will be no ‘yes’ and ‘no’ cases presented to the people because keeping them in the dark will increase the default vote to ‘yes’, the feel good option. And in a sleight of hand that would make any old-time dictator proud, it will pay for the ‘education’ of the people. In any event, the word has obviously gone out to the wider Left that the ‘yes’ case should be presented favorably and the ‘no’ case ignored.  How sad it is to see that every ABC program on the subject is heavily slanted to ‘yes’, slips over from news to partisan comment, and ridicules anyone who dares hold a different opinion to the official ALP/ Green/ABC line.

And now, I am going to ask the reader to face up to the inevitable practical result of the Voice if it gets up and running. While you are doing this, ignore the handful of acolytes trotted out by the ALP, particularly the tame lawyers looking for fat consulting fees and honors for supporting the government. Make up your own mind. First, it will be impossible for any government to agree to all of the demands of the Voice, especially as they will keep coming from a permanent Voice enshrined in the constitution. So, some of them will be rejected. Secondly, won’t the Voice and its supporters sue, until they get the right result? The tame lawyers say they could not sue, which must be the only time in recorded history when lawyers have said ‘don’t sue’. (They will always say: ‘you have a 50/50 chance’). The tame lawyers have not told you that there is already power in the constitution for the High Court to order the government to do things or to stop doing other things. If there is half a chance, wouldn’t you give it a go, at the public expense, of course, because the Voice will have a bottomless pot of money? If you could just get your case off the ground, these days you would have no trouble finding a judge who will say that the government did not consult fully with the Voice and that the government’s decision should be set aside or it will be sent back to do some more consulting. Is that what we want, endless litigation, each case causing a new rupture between the races and every case followed by endless appeals? That is the real danger of the Voice in full flight: modern courts of activist judges (they know better than to try to get elected) who think they know better than the people how to re-arrange society.

There is obviously a danger of the Voice becoming a third chamber of parliament, as it would claim to be speaking for its community, which is what parliaments do. But there is an equal danger of the courts becoming a legion of third chambers, none of them elected and all of them straining at the behest of the Voice to change society, but of course only for the benefit of one race.

If that happens, we may as well close up shop, like the Liberal party.