This chapter begins by examining the psychological and political forces underpinning Australia’s rejection of a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the October 2023 referendum. Framing the ‘No’ vote as a manifestation of deep, national denial, the author links this rejection to a broader historical context of colonial violence and dispossession, revealing how the same psychological state fuels Australia’s brutal treatment of asylum seekers. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, particularly Freud’s concepts of mourning and melancholia, and Klein’s theories of psychic splitting, the author argues that Australia’s national psyche is trapped in a regressive, infantile state of denial. This denial perpetuates both the oppression of Indigenous peoples and the ongoing abuse of refugees, seen in the country’s policies of offshore detention and mandatory detention. The chapter contends that Australia’s failure to confront its colonial past and the trauma it has caused continues to shape its political landscape, resulting in policies that dehumanise and marginalise vulnerable populations. Ultimately, it calls for a national reckoning to confront these realities and heal the nation’s collective psyche.