Perhaps Victorian Liberal Leader, Brad Battin, heard me yesterday when I accused his party of being ‘weak’ on the subject of Treaty.
Today, he put out a series of tweets confirming that an elected Coalition would repeal Labor’s horrific Treaty within 100 days.
This is a good thing.
Politics is a culture war. People think with their wallets but vote with their emotions. Rejecting race politics is something fresh in the minds of Victorians who said ‘No’ to the Prime Minister’s arrogant referendum.
Mind you, Mr Battin still paid lip service to the ‘Close the Gap’ mantra.
In a series of statements jointly released by the Liberals and Nationals, they explain what they will do instead.
Bring Victoria together
We will introduce legislation to repeal treaty within the first 100 days of government. Labor’s divisive treaty will reportedly cost taxpayers $200 million over four years, and we believe that money could be better spent on making a real difference in the lives of Indigenous Victorians.
Focus on unity
We will implement a community-led, coordinated and transparent approach to Closing the Gap focused on unity and equal opportunity.
Establish First Nations Victoria
This standalone department will add transparency, accountability, and responsibility to Closing the Gap targets and ensure funding and services reach the people who need it.
Deliver real outcomes
We will deliver real change in the lives of Indigenous Victorians, not just through policy, but through measurable progress brought on by genuine collaboration and respect for community-led leadership.
It is disappointing Mr Battin couldn’t bring himself to say the Treaty is racist, undermines the assumption that all people are equal in the eyes of the state, and opens the gate to a genuinely abusive political system that discriminates, openly, by race.
This is the thrust of the conversation Victorians had this week when it came to healthcare after it was revealed at least one hospital has a race-based priority policy.
When it comes to opposing Treaty, the Victorian Coalition focused on Indigenous Australians, who are the beneficiaries, instead of the victims.
Usually, politicians appeal to the victims and promise justice.
The responses to his tweet make this clear. Australians feel as if they are nothing but an assumed vote at the election. A class of people trapped between Red and Blue walls. Non-Aboriginal Australians want to feel valued and they don’t take kindly to being treated as a money-tree for race politics.
The Opposition should oppose the Treaty because it is morally, legally, and Constitutionally wrong.
Have the guts to say it.
And if you do not wish to make the moral argument for racial equality, simply say the Treaty will be repealed and let voters assume the rest.
It is not too late, Mr Battin. Release a follow-up series of tweets making it clear that all Victorians will be equal under a Coalition government.
On a separate note, does anyone else think the Closing the Gap movement is a tad ideologically incoherent?
It is pushed by an activist class openly hostile to European culture and Western systems of government, education, and democracy. And yet the ‘gap’ they want closed is between traditional culture and colonial society. They want Indigenous communities to be colonised by Western outcomes while the cities are decolonised.
Another way to describe this is ‘insane’.
Everyone knows the gap is not something that can be closed from one side. At some point, remote communities have to operate under the same expectations as everyone else and within the same rules.
Padding out poor choices with other people’s money leads to a lifetime of bad decisions. Creating tribal systems of law and governance will not bring these communities closer to their city cousins.
No society has ever pulled itself up while weighed down with the bigotry of low expectations and an activist class that profits from keeping communities trapped in a parallel Australia. If they close the gap, what happens to the industry?
Equality, not Marxist equity, is the only way forward for Victoria.
