We, as a nation, voted No to the Voice referendum—as we have for most referendums in the colonial history of this colony: because our ‘sacred’ constitution should not be changed, so they say; because of a belief the Constitution, the ‘birth certificate’ of the nation, is inviolable and unchangeable. It makes me wonder.

Who has read this constitution—this thing so sacred they have resisted letting it change? This thing so many Australians get mixed up with the constitution of the US of A? This thing that contains little more than the rules for administering government? I wonder who has actually read this document—it’s only a few dozen pages—that does not say what they seem to think it does?