The Daily Advertiser letters: John Farnham join-in sparks musings on vote mix tape

Apropos J. Farnham lending his repetitive "You're the Voice" ditty to the PM, a potato-headed man (Potato Dutton?) sits at a desk on the phone to Paul McCartney trying to snare "Nowhere Man" for the referendum No lobby.

Yep, quite funny - and coherent! But then I saw that my initial scepticism was correct - it was a Broelman cartoon day, not a Pope day.

Alas but: Ah... I should have twigged earlier.

Still, it led me to speculate if Johnny - no disrespect, I just can't think of him as John or "Jack" - had said no to the PM (as the majority of us intend to) would he have asked Talking Heads about using "We're on a road to nowhere" for people to hum along with for the vibe to nowhere.

While the Albanese government concentrates on the Voice to Parliament, our farmers continue to struggle with a raft of its decisions that are affecting their livelihoods, as well as the livelihoods of Australians in rural communities who rely on farmers for their prosperity.

Everything from the push to renewables without an effective transition strategy and including construction of transmission lines, to Heritage Acts, operating costs, live sheep exports and changes to industrial laws are impacting our nation's food producers.

But the broken promise announced by water minister Tanya Plibersek, who will buy water from farmers and abandon the socio-economic neutrality test that was promised by her fellow cabinet member Tony Burke, must surely be the last straw.

Legislation to enact this policy, which will go down in history as one of the most anti-food producing acts from any government since Federation, is expected to be presented to Parliament next week.

Sadly, it is so unnecessary because the government has enough water for the Murray-Darling Basin environment, and if it wants to recover more this can be achieved with projects that support farming and the environment.

Additionally, estimates to buy the intended water range up to $20 billion.

I'm sure there are many on hospital waiting lists or unable to obtain housing who could suggest a better use of this massive amount of money.

But possibly the most anti-farming federal government in our nation's history will not listen to common-sense or viable ways to support farmers and therefore help keep our cost of living pressures down.

When Australians cannot get fresh Aussie grown produce at the supermarket without paying an 'arm and a leg', they may realise they have been victim of an Albanese con job.

If I was unsure of the use-by date on my yoghurt, Peter Dutton's "if you don't know, say no" would be helpful. But it's not at all helpful in guiding my vote in our upcoming referendum.

In other parts of my life, if I don't know, I Google reputable experts, I read, I ask people I respect for advice. I try to understand. If I always just said no, my life would be very limited indeed.

And it's limits on lives that are at stake in the upcoming Voice referendum.

The stakes are high, a point not lost on Indigenous Australians.

That's why polling consistently indicates that 80 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians say 'yes' to The Voice. It provides an opportunity for them to be heard on matters that impact them.

If you're not sure that voting yes will improve the lives of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders neighbours, go to The Voice website - voice.gov.au - and get in the know.

To those people proposing to vote no in the referendum. How can you reject a body of people who have stretched out their hand in friendship, asking non-indigenous Australians to walk with them on the journey of reconciliation?

People who are part of the original fabric of Australia but have always been overlooked.

By voting yes you are ensuring that the nation of Australia is underpinned by the values of honour, integrity, humanity, justice and independence.

The world is watching.

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