constitutional reform: one part of just settlement?
TRANSCRIPT
Constitutional Reform: One Part of Just Settlement?
Schools Constitutional Convention
February, 2016
JUST SETTLEMENTThe end game
The constitutional reform question has changed over time
New preamble?
Expert panel recommendation
sRecognise campaign
http://songlines.org.au/2011/05/27/no-recongition-no-treaty-no-nuclear-dealings/
Two questions today
Will constitutional reform lead to just settlement?
If we reform the constitution, what should it look like?
THE CASE FOR JUST SETTLEMENT
How we got to this point…
Through European eyes: inhabited country…
Image K Galloway
“Uninhabited” countryImage K Galloway
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/the80sareback/2010/01/the-bicentenary-of-88-celebration-survival/ Poster by Wendy Dunn
1967 referendum: was it enough?
TOWARDS JUST SETTLEMENT
Legal options
Two camps
Treaty Constitutional reform
Treaty(Yothu Yindi)…This land was never given up This land was never bought and sold The planting of the union jackNever changed our law at all Now two river run their course Separated for so long I’m dreaming of a brighter day When the waters will be one Treaty yeah treaty now treaty yeah treaty now
A treaty recognises that:
…and empowers First Nations peoples
At the moment, the Constitution
Ignores Indigenous
Australians’ First Nations status
Allows negative discrimination
against Indigenous
peoples
Is silent on human rights
Constitutional reform might• Affect parliament’s
law-making powers
Or even
• Embed human rights Radical!!
Its legal job is different from treaty
Constitutional recognitionForI do not want to resent my own country any longer. I don't want my children to carry this burden and neither should yours.Rachel Perkins, Arrernte woman, film and television director, screenwriter
Against[the meeting was] suspicious of self determination talks with government, as they had not delivered any positive results in the past and trust was an issue.Terry Mason, Awabakal man, Chair Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee for National Tertiary Education Union
A huge challenge…[W]hat's the use of being recognised in the constitution if the concept of us being Original Peoples who never ceded our lands causes the public to withdraw their support?
Celeste Liddle, Arrernte woman, columnist, commentator, Indigenous organiser for National Tertiary Education Union
‘Two river run their course…the waters will be one’
Perhaps not either/or, but both?
Treaty Constitutional reform
MEANINGFUL CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
One river, flowing towards just settlement
http://www.recognise.org.au/about/expert-panel/
What do the experts say?
THE QUESTION OF RACE Recommendation
Repeal s25 which says…
If a state excludes
Indigenous people from
voting
Indigenous people not counted in population
figures
THE POWER TO MAKE LAWS
Recommendation
http://nicholsoncartoons.com.au/hindmarsh-island-bridge-aborigines-gap-1-7.html
Existing power to make laws based on race can be detrimental: repeal s51(xxvi)
Grant power to make laws but give context: new s51A
• first occupied by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoplesRecognise
• continuing relationship of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with their traditional lands and water
Acknowledge
• continuing cultures, languages and heritageRespect
• need to secure the advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Acknowledging
What does advancement mean?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-07-23/basics-card/359848
ANTI-DISCRIMINATIONRecommendation
Anti-discrimination: new s116A
Governments must not
discriminate
This doesn’t preclude
measures to overcome
disadvantage
‘One-clause bill of rights’? What about…
Sex discrimination
?
Disability discrimination
?
Religious discrimination
?
LGBTI discrimination
?
LANGUAGE RECOGNITIONRecommendation
Language Recognition: new s127A
The national language of the Commonwealthof Australia is English
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are the original Australian languages, a part of our national heritage
MAKING YOUR DECISION…
So do we want change, or not?
http://themojocompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/change.jpg
BUT WHAT WILL THE CHANGE LOOK LIKE?
14 http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/selfdetermination/would-a-treaty-help-aboriginal-self-determination#ixzz3zYbumdIi18 http://www.smh.com.au/comment/rachel-perkins-speaks-out-on-the-need-to-stand-up-for-aboriginal-australians-20141212-125vrb.html 18 https://newmatilda.com/2016/02/08/recognise-rejected-historic-meeting-500-black-leaders-unanimously-opposes-constitutional-recognition/ 19 http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/what-constitutional-recognition-isnt-necessarily-the-answer-to-improving-indigenous-rights-20160207-gmny8n.html