‘Our voice has been missing’: Adelaide dialogue co-convenor Klynton Wanganeen. Picture: Gregory Higgs
The Australian
12:00AM April 10, 2017
Stephen Fitzpatrick
Indigenous Affairs Editor
Sydney
@svfitzpatrick
Minimalist constitutional reform now has no chance of winning the backing of indigenous
Australia, with the latest referendum dialogue in Adelaide concluding that a “once-in-a-generation
opport-unity” for meaningful change must not be wasted.
The Adelaide gathering aligned with the conclusions of nine previous meetings nationwide,
including that a constitu-tionally guaranteed indigenous parliamentary body must be created- to
have a say in policy and lawmaking that affects Aborigin-al and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
Adelaide delegates said this body should be properly repre-sentative, not hand-picked, and based
on indigenous land carrying traditional songlines.
This proposal goes far beyond the “minimalist” model for reform- preferred by federal polit-icians,
consisting of removing refer-ences to race and adding a statement of acknowledgment.
Adelaide co-convenor Klynton Wanganeen said any reform had to be substantive, “because when
you look at the history, there’s been a lot of good meaning and good intentions, a lot of half
intentions, but nothing long-lasting. Our voice has been missing.”
Mr Wanganeen said South Australia’s letters patent, the document establishing the then province
in 1836 and which explicitly acknowledged Aboriginal occupation, was a case in point.
“That’s the foundation document for South Australia and we could not have joined the federation
without it, so that (Aboriginal) statement should be written into the Constitution as a recognition of
our rights,” he said.
There are two final meetings scheduled, in Brisbane and the Torres Strait, before a constitutional
convention at Uluru at the end of next month, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the 1967
referendum on indigenous rights.
Delegates at each meeting have been adamant that this must not be the end of the matter, but
that they expect to continue negotiating with politicians on the form of any referendum question.
This could also include whether a question was put at all.
Fears have been expressed that Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten, to whom the referen-dum
council running this dialogue process jointly answer, might disregard the aspirations of the
indigenous electorate. “This weekend and Uluru are regarded as just the beginning, because we
have a long history of struggle in this regard,” Mr Wanganeen said.
South Australia is the state furthest down the road towards negotiating treaties with indigenous
inhabitants, with treaty commissioner Roger Thomas updat-ing the weekend’s gathering on
progress.
Mr Wanganeen said there was a clear difference -between this process and the national
recognition agenda, with any treaty coming out of the latter needing to be one that could not be
written out of legislation.
Attendees were briefed on how the indigenous body to parliament was dealt with in other
countries with indigenous populations.
“We’re very keen to see some type of process for establishing an Aboriginal voice in parliament
– the things we’re talking about are quite normal in other parts of the world,” he said.
“But this is not just about Aborigi-nal people … it’s a nation-building exercise. Everyone needs to
get that that’s what it is.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/minimal-constitutional-reform-wont-wash-with-first-peoples/news-story/64d3b6071db2e91fe21d9e1a61b6de5f
Georgina Gartland
