Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price shares Martin Luther King's dream of equality

His speech was forward looking, not one couched in revenge for past wrongs, urging all Americans to march ahead together as one country.

It seems the "yes" advocates seek a Voice, then a treaty, then truth telling, then reparations, and finally sovereignty.

It will lock in aggrievement. It ignores the reality that there is so much in the past that was wrong throughout the world, modelled on our current thinking and values.

It is based on the false premise that we can correct history.

Price wants us to go forward as one country, comprising people from many lands who now call Australia home, and for us all to deal with disadvantage and need, whoever it may be who needs help and whatever their background. She deserves to be lauded.

Thank you, Ian Warden ("The Voice "yes" campaign could really use a miracle in referendum vote", Panorama, September 16) for raising the question of hearing church leadership regarding the Voice referendum.

As a member of the congregation at Wesley Uniting Church Forrest, I am aware of the Uniting Church Australia Assembly's endorsement of a "yes" vote. I have received a pastoral letter from our minister Reverend Dr Geoff Dornan asking that this issue be included in individual prayer and to join with others at 12.30 pm in prayer and meditation at Wesley each Sunday until October 14.

In addition, Professor Peter Yu, inaugural vice-president, of First People Portfolio at ANU will speak at Wesley at 1.30 pm on Friday September 29, on the struggle of Australia's First People to walk with others by being recognised and listened to.

The above opportunities are open to anyone who wishes to come.

As Mark Kenny pointed out ("A country deeply divided between fact, myth and race", September 15) the referendum could have been a time of pulling the country together and creating a civilised consensus as occurred with the bipartisanship of the 1967 referendum.

But Peter Dutton's decision to make it into a point-scoring exercise for political gain has brought racism, largely born of ignorance, to the fore. Instead of explaining the conditions that, over the last 200 years, have left so many First Nations people in a disadvantaged position, his only call is, "If you don't know, vote no".

That is leadership of the worst kind. Shame on him.

I am ashamed that my local newspaper ("Kingsford Smith School faces student behaviour problems amid severe staff shortages", September 16) offers a front page vilification of my local school and another.

I can't see that naming and shaming schools is helpful. Yes, I have taught at one of the named schools. I have also taught at college level and had one of my students exclaim, "What do you expect? We went to ........".

Of course I continued to expect more; and got it. When you label schools, you label kids. Don't.

And journalists, if this is what you have to write for a front page spread, journalism is not worth it. We need teachers more than we need journalists. You could do it. Make a real difference.

Reading "South Australia leads pack on reading" (September 16) I was pleased to see the focus on schools sharing best practice ideas on teaching reading.

However, some of the experts' quotes left me less than convinced that things were going to get a whole lot better. For example: "...there has to be some teachers in the school who are willing..." Has to be some teachers? How about "have to be some teachers". And then "There's some really fantastic decodable teachers out there". There's? Try there're.

Who coaches the "literacy coaches"?

Australians are a fair-minded, practical people who don't take kindly to being hoodwinked. So let's think clearly about our vote for the Voice.

Just as the NDIS tries to address the needs of those with a disability, the Voice is designed to address the needs of our First Nations people: for constitutional recognition, and to be listened to in a direct and effective way.

Representatives from remote, rural and urban communities can present their view to government allowing best practice to be heard and acted on.

This offers real chances to close the gap of generations of disadvantage. It's not divisive, nor benefitting one section of society (any more than the NDIS does) and is not racist.

It will be managed by our democratically elected Parliament. It could provide a scaffold for a better Australia. Coming together, now that's appealing.

Like Greg Adamson (Letters, September 10) I support the value of equality.

But unlike him, I will be voting "yes" because I know that equality does not mean treating everyone the same and that the Voice is necessary to ensure that Indigenous Australians can be heard and included.

We have made laws and policies for them without taking their wishes into account. We have locked up children to force them to assimilate and then wondered why they turned into dysfunctional adults.

We have pushed people off their country and corralled them in "reserves", with other tribes, all away from country and wondered why they didn't thrive. We made laws whereby they needed permission to travel and gave them pocket money rather than wages, keeping the rest.

When they made suggestions to improve anything, governments thought they knew better.

For over 200 years they were rarely if ever, asked, simply told. If this is "Australian equality" then it's time we had a new definition.

It's time to accept that Indigenous Australians competently managed this country for thousands of years before we arrived, to recognise them in the constitution, and to listen to them.

There are really two questions to be answered in the upcoming referendum. It is such a pity it has been worded in such a way the two questions must be answered as one.

I for one agree that a constitutional change is necessary to give proper recognition to our First Nations people. However I have doubts the Voice will do anything to "close the gap".

If parliamentary representation, coupled with all the bodies set up to support Indigenous people, have made such little headway the Voice will only provide more of the same.

I recently went to a coffee shop in Fyshwick and was astounded to see that I had to action one of several options on the payment machine before making the payment for a small order.

The options showed various percentage tips with "no tip" at the bottom of the list.

This was before I had the opportunity to taste the offering or the level of service.

I will never visit this establishment again. Besides, the coffee was the worst I have tasted in years; perhaps because I took the "no tip" option.

Anne O'Hara is rightly concerned about the government's refusal to release its report on the national security implications of climate change (Letters, September 18). Why? It's too darn scary.

The challenges within Australia of increasing extreme weather events will be a lot to cope with, but the international situation is likely to become more complex and difficult in coming decades.

I'm sure the report addresses the likelihood of many countries in our region becoming almost uninhabitable due to heat, storms. droughts, and rising sea levels. Bangladesh with 120 million people is mostly within two metres of sea level.

Agriculture throughout the region will be badly affected, and when people can't feed their families we know that there are two main outcomes. They try to move elsewhere, and there is massive civil unrest, often leading to the breakdown of social structures.

Both of these things will be seriously bad for Australia's national security.

And if we keep digging up coal and fracking for gas and sending it all overseas to be burnt and added to the atmosphere, we shouldn't be surprised when millions of refugees start heading our way.

The key, P J Bewly ("Just leave us alone", Letters, September 15), is to make the territories equal to the states. How? Break the connection to the British monarchy. The states were the creation of the British monarchy. If we are independent we can legislate to make the territories equal to the states.

Looks like September 2023 will turn out to be the hottest September month globally on record. This week's Canberra forecast is for days of up to 27 degrees and no rain. That is pretty warm for this time of year. Time for more government action on climate change.

It's both hilarious and amusing that a photo of Jack "biter" Wighton is used by The Canberra Times to advertise the It's Finals Time in both the NRL and AFL. I presume it might help the bitting into pies at half time.

I'm pleased Alex Wallensky (Letters, September 18) found Senator Price's National Press Club address so informative. Her evasions and non-answers when interviewed on 7.30 the same night were equally illuminating.

Senator Price's denial of the impact of colonialism is just absurd.

I am led to make two comments about rear-enders. The first is traveling too close to the vehicle in front; the second is inattention. Taken together, these behaviours constitute a highly potent, dangerous mix.

I have now had two corflutes on tomato stakes advocating a "yes" vote stolen in the dead of night from my front garden. My voice, supporting the "Voice" is being silenced by undemocratic, racist thieves who can't stand an opinion different from their own. How low can they go?

In considering the Voice I cannot get past the thought of the unbelievably destructive power of bad ideas and their legacy. If the Voice gets up we will be intergenerationally impacted to the point that we cannot even predict today.

Even if Mr Bowen is right in saying it will cost $387 billion to install 71 modular nuclear reactors in our coal fired power stations, that's cheap compared with the $1.5 trillion it will cost us to get to 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

Robert Douglas (Letters, Sept 19) points out the silliness of the "no" case by noting the actual words of the referendum question and the proposed constitutional amendment. How on earth do the naysayers think governments get stuff done if executive government is not involved? Has Mr Dutton forgotten the executive includes the ministry?