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