UNSW Sydney’s leading constitutional experts discuss recognition and the need to listen to First Nations peoples when formulating policy that affects them.
On the fourth anniversary of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, advocates say if the Commonwealth “legislates an Indigenous Voice, our lives will not improve”.
A simple referendum question about consitutional change would leave the parliament to handle the detail of how to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a voice in the legislative process, writes Rosalind Dixon.
The 1967 referendum fell far short in giving people what they thought they were voting for, and in giving Aboriginal people what they wanted from it, write Gabrielle Appleby and Gemma McKinnon.
A vote on constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians is unlikely before 2018. But Paul Kildea warns that the longer the consultation process goes on, the more debate is likely to split and fracture.
If we are to forge a way ahead on Indigenous recognition in the constitution, it must be through political leadership and genuine public consultation, writes Paul Kildea.
