The Referendum Looms
I write from a place that has been Awabakal Country since a time before and I pay my respects to the First Peoples of our nation and their elders.
At the start of his period as Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese undertook to bring the matters raised in the Uluru Statement to the fore of his political agenda.
There were two issues raised there, one to do with Constitutional Recognition of the First Peoples of our Nation, and the Second to do with a Constitutional base for a Voice of the First Peoples of our nation to be considered in matters of Aboriginal Affairs.
These two issues have been bound into a single question for the referendum. In a way, I think that is a bit sad, for I am pretty sure that recognition on its own as a question would have had not only bi-partisan support but also a very solid majority of people in a majority of States. In a sense, it is the simple fact of history, a matter which has been widely canvassed, and would ensure that notions of Terra Nullus and The Doctrine of Discovery could never be used in ways that were done in the past and were essentially dismissed by the High Court in the Mabo decision.
The Voice and we are very unclear on what the form or shape of it will be, for it will be determined by the Parliament. Of course, there have been numerous bodies of consultation, advice, and administration that have come and gone, without having achieved a great deal, and there has been unending politics playing amongst that process. There is of course no need for this to be in the Constitution, as the Government can legislate to bring it to bear, and indeed once it is in the Constitution the Government will need to legislate to enable it to take shape.
The argument is that it is a very good thing, and the Prime Minister has enough numbers in both houses to bring it to bear already, and I am left wondering why we are waiting.