Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the very insightful Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence for moving that motion to allow us to conclude this discussion about constitutional reform. This document, the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples final report of June 2015, is indeed very timely, but it is also a very important report. I commend my colleague Mr Stephen Jones, who was a member of that committee, for the work of the committee in following, as they did, the expert panel in making a series of recommendations which I think have been broadly supported across the country.

Over the last weekend, I had the privilege of attending a state funeral at Yirrkala. This service was for one of Australia's most significant Aboriginal leaders over recent years, Mr Wunungmurra. Mr Wunungmurra had a life of leadership. He was the youngest signatory to the bark petition in 1963, which now, of course, has pride of place in the parliament. He was a Yolngu leader of high degree. One of his attributes was his continuing involvement in giving service to his community across a range of areas from health to education to outstations and, significantly, to the Northern Land Council as its chairman for six years. In that role, he had a strong view about the importance of constitutional reform and the need for us to address the Constitution to give proper recognition to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. So it is, I think, fitting that, in so short a time after his commemorative ceremony, we are having this discussion here.

A lot has been said about this matter for some time. Indeed, it was first postulated by John Howard when he was Prime Minister. I have to say that the time has come. It is time for us to actually sit down and deal with the issues. This committee report fulsomely addresses the issues and makes a series of quite strong recommendations, which I think bear our support. But there is a process. You will recall, Mr Deputy Speaker Hawke, that there was a gathering at Kirribilli at which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders from across the country as well as the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and, among others, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, the shadow minister and I were in attendance. It was a very uplifting experience because it gave me, at least, the impression that there was a strong bipartisan support for the idea that there should be constitutional change.

I attempted to point out, in referring to Mr Wunungmurra, that the Northern Territory is actually pretty significant in all of this. In my seat of Lingiari, around 40 per cent of the population are Aboriginal people. They have a significant interest in these outcomes. They are in a unique position in that context because of the depth of the population in terms of their thoughts about this constitutional change. I have to say that, as I travel around, it is very clear that there is broad support for the proposals, particularly those from, initially, the expert panel, which was co-chaired, as we know, by Pat Dodson and Mark Leibler. It is very important that we see the seriousness of their work and of the work through this report and, following that, the discussions that took place at Kirribilli, which, as I say, were quite uplifting in the context that they involved bipartisanship and they involved a contribution from significant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, all wishing for a similar outcome.

But I have to say that there is a level of frustration now creeping in because, as a result of that meeting, there was to be set up an organisation, a committee, a referendum council, which is yet to be finalised. There were proposals from Aboriginal people to set up a series of conferences around the country involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. That is for the very good reason that the people who will be subject to this change, who will have the most impact from these changes, will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, the first Australians, who were not contemplated in the original Constitution. They have a significant interest—and, one would argue, the most important interest—in what is involved in the proposed changes, so it is important that they are allowed to have this series of discussions around the country.

But, sadly, it appears that the Prime Minister is not so enthusiastic about them, at least not in the sense that they should be separate or different from other meetings around the country. I would encourage the Prime Minister to understand that, whilst he might think, as he has expressed recently, that it might involve a log of claims, the fact is that it is absolutely imperative and that, if Aboriginal people across the country are not comfortable with the propositions which are being put, there is no point in putting them. I am certain, as a result of what we know about the 1967 referendum, that, if we allow this discussion to take place in a fulsome way and we fund the opportunities for people to meet, that in itself will be a positive step.

Clearly, whilst the Prime Minister may be a little reticent, he did agree to provide financial support for these proposals, yet at the moment, as I understand it, no funding has been made available, and there is still a view by some that the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet should be responsible for these meetings. I do not think that is the case. I think what the Prime Minister should do is support a secretariat which is run and controlled by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and provide them the funds to have these meetings around Australia with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. That does not mean that there cannot be concurrent meetings of other people, but it is really very important that we understand the imperative of having these discussions in this way. If we do not do this, then whatever is being proposed will find it very difficult to get the support in the community, where it is most needed. I understand that there will be differences of opinion across this country, but I am sure that people of goodwill who really appreciate the significance of these matters to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can come to agreement about what the proposed question should be.

There are recommendations in this report which lead to a discussion about what the question might look like, and I think we should be supporting those propositions. I know that the Prime Minister, for one, is more reticent. I suggest to the Prime Minister that he leave his reticence aside and allow a discussion to take place across the Australian community and that he provide enthusiastic leadership instead of having an impact which is seen to be potentially eroding the possibility of these discussions taking place free of the imposition of his views. It is very important that he rather more abstractly look at this to allow the discussions to take place and to see then what emerges. Of course, we know that it will now not happen through the course of this parliament—that is the question being put—but it is very important that we allow this process to go on. We need to realise that the delays which appear to be happening are causing some frustration amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the country. It appears that somehow this issue may have been dropped down the agenda somewhat. We need to elevate it again. The Prime Minister is in the best position to do that, in concert with the Leader of the Opposition—because bipartisanship is absolutely fundamental. I urge both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to make sure that they operate in a truly bipartisan manner. I know the Prime Minister thinks he is, but he needs to do a lot more.

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