The inevitable problem with the Voice appears already

I mean, I don't want to be negative about the idea of the federal government having to give due consideration to an indigenous "voice" on legislation that affects the indigenous community. It sounds fair as a concept, and there is precedent from other countries.

But I find this week's argument between Mick Gooda and Noel Pearson about the wording of the relevant amendment pretty much an endorsement of my prediction the concept is going to have serious practical problems even if it gets up.    

I happened to see Gooda on 7.30 talking about his concerns, and he came across as very reasonable and cautious and well intentioned.   Pearson's response comes across as bullying and unfair, and perhaps someone needs to have a word in his ear (and Langton's, and that of anyone else who takes this line) that the more belligerent they sound (and the more they claim it will be disastrous to the future of indigenous politics if the referendum fails), the more they are likely to push skeptics to voting "no".  [I can imagine a huge number of aboriginal activists outraged that it's racist and paternalistic to effectively tell them to "behave" if they want to get their way - but I would say it's more a case of realism and pragmatism based on the history of referenda in this country.]

Long story short:  if there is already strong friction between long standing, mainstream aboriginal leadership figures on the implementation of this system, why shouldn't we expect that the instituional "Voice" will also routinely be the subject of criticism from within the indigenous community that it has given the "wrong" advice to government on particular issues?    And if so, how will that changes things going forward?      

I suspect that the problem in Australia may come down to the size of the country and hence the number of groupings of indigenous here:

Aboriginal people belong to Mobs (tribes) and within those are Clans (family groups). There are over 250 Mobs in Australia and even more Clans (some Mobs have upwards of 7 clans). Most Aboriginal people will have a ‘moiety,’ ‘totem’ or ‘spirit protector’ and usually an individual will have more than one – tribal, gender, family, personal.

All Mobs have their own ‘Country’ with boundaries that are typically marked on trees and by natural landscapes such as a river being a boundary between two neighbouring tribes or clans.

I would bet that most countries with successful institutionalised indigenous advisory bodies that are formalised just don't have that problem.