Panellists seek views on Constitution
Hurtling towards a December deadline, when they will advise how Australia could best recognise indigenous people in its Constitution, a panel of experts spoke with just three Broome locals who met with them last week.
The Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians, made up of indigenous and non-indigenous people, businesspeople, academics and politicians was appointed in December last year, co-chaired by Professor Patrick Dodson and Mark Leibler.
Professor Dodson, along with fellow panellists Senator Rachel Siewert and Bill Lawson, led the meeting in Broome, and others held in Kununurra, Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing.
They explained recognition would better reflect who we were as a nation and help to eliminate racial discrimination.
The panellists said now was a critical time for constitutional change, with the groundswell of support from the majority of Australians, in the wake of the 2008 Apology and movements toward reconciliation.
Mr Lawson said it was important the panel made the right choice in how much change it advocated for when it came time to advise the Government.
“There’s a wave to catch and not to miss – but if we go too far, how long will it take to get back to this point again,” he said.
Professor Dodson said the small numbers in Broome did not reflect the momentum of support across the country for recognition, with recent polls showing 75 per cent of Australians supported constitutional recognition in some form.
“Often people think the 1967 referendum fixed up recognition issues, but it hasn’t,” he said.
“This is an opportunity to clarify the definition of ourselves as Australians … for all of us, nonindigenous and indigenous.”
Professor Dodson said the challenge now was working out what parts of the Constitution should be changed.
Some suggestions were to include a statement of recognition or values in a preamble or in the document body, to repeal or amend the ‘race power’ – section 51 (xxvi), and to repeal section 25, which excludes some Australians from voting in State elections on the basis of race.
Any constitutional change requires a majority vote of Australians through a referendum.
But in the meantime, the public has been invited to download a free copy of the panel’s discussion paper, You Me Unity, from the website, www.youmeunity.org.au, or lodge a formal submission – due by September 30.
