More than 100 people attended a lively forum at Glebe Town Hall on July 9 on the topic of "Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution."
The forum was organised by RECOGNISE and the Glebe NAIDOC Committee, as part of the National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Commemoration (NAIDOC) Week celebrations.
Journalist Jeff McMullen chaired the event. He told the audience: "Our Australian constitution is still stained with racism. [Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander] voices and perspectives are denied and excluded." The proposal for a constitutional referendum to include recognition of Aboriginal rights is currently under consideration, he said.
National Congress of First Peoples chairperson Les Malezer was a member of an official panel that prepared recommendations for a possible constitutional amendment, which has now been postponed by the federal Labor government for decision by the next parliament.
Malezer said the panel had brought down a consensus report that sought to have Indigenous citizenship fully recognised and racial discrimination in the constitution outlawed. A limitation on the proposal was the stipulation by the government that its terms must be "supported by the majority of Australians."
Former Democrat Senator Aden Ridgeway also favoured a change to the constitution. "What do we leave as a legacy for our children?" he asked.
Sydney University Professor Shane Houston said: "Equality is not about sameness; it is about the right to be different." He added that while he thought constitutional recognition of Aboriginal rights was important, the question was, "Will constitutional change bring justice" to Indigenous people?
A senior researcher at the Jumbunna Centre at the University of Technology Sydney, Nicole Watson, said there is a diversity of opinion among Aboriginal people on this and other issues. Many Aboriginal people supported constitutional change, but there were three reasons why she was concerned.
"We still don't know what the terms of constitutional recognition will entail. We don't know what a future Abbott or Rudd government will support.”
The extension of the Northern Territory intervention, endorsed by the big parties, also means that "it is disingenuous of the Commonwealth parliament to on the one hand maintain the gross discrimination represented by the NT intervention, while on the other proposing constitutional change for the supposed abolition of racial discrimination."
She said for genuine Aboriginal sovereignty: "We need a treaty more than we need constitutional change. A treaty would be a real vehicle for the empowerment of Aboriginal people.”
The panel fielded questions from the audience, ranging over different aspects of Aboriginal issues. All speakers ended by expressing optimism that "Aboriginal people have shown enormous resilience," and that the gains won through past struggle need to be extended through different means into the future.