Interesting idea that beauty is not just pretty and nice. The notion of beauty in grief is quite compelling - if a little unsettling…

sometimes the grim machinery grinds loud. stay humble; you are not the first to foresee doom. you will not be the last to be wrong.

Some bracing but ultimately hopeful reading from Tracey Westerman’s experience of doing this work for a long time www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topi...

This is how to close the gap

Governments are supposed to be all about accountability. Yet the “gap” widens each year, and the statistics provide stark evidence of this failure. Of child suicides – four times higher among Indigeno...

The Progressive Action Lab is a project that Common Endeavour is associated with. Not because it is progressive but because it is building a forum to discuss processes for strengthening #democracywww.progressiveactionlab.com.au

I’d like to think your keystrokes weren’t wasted. It’s good to hear your thoughts and arguments.

Still, the Yes campaign was a credit to its values while the No campaign was an embarrassment to the country. That may yet stand it in good stead as we try to improve the country’s engagement with First People’s history and needs

Totally agree that the strategy of letting Indigenous voices lead a positive campaign was doomed once Dutton opted for opposition. That’s a tough pivot to make though, especially given Dutton didn’t play his hand until he saw what the Yes campaign was going to look like.

Bit of a leap from ‘proposing a model wouldn’t have stopped lies’ to ‘no strategy would have been successful’. But you are right, in that the original goal, to run an apolitical, positive, indigenous-led campaign, was a mistake once Dutton decided to oppose the Voice.

I think very few of the lies would have been challenged by proposing a model. And any proposed model would itself have generated more and different lies. Whatever it was, it would have fit perfectly into the campaign that the proposed Voice was ‘divisive’.

My perception was that the Yes campaign was always designed to be a positive campaign and it remained true to that to the end. I don’t think many No voters would have been swayed by seeing a model, given the form of the opposition the Yes campaign generated.