Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—The Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Bill Shorten, in his Closing the Gap speech in February this year said that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples deserve a 'place of honour in the Constitution'. Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard called constitutional recognition 'a great piece of unfinished national business'. When Labor was in power we provided $10 million to Reconciliation Australia to fund a national awareness campaign.

For tens of thousands of years Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived on this continent and the islands surrounding it, with stewardship, ownership and a complex society created of nations. Australia's history did not start in 1770, in 1788 or with Federation at the beginning of the 20th century; Australia's history and the achievements, operation, culture, land and languages of Aboriginal people have existed for tens of thousands of years.

Labor believes that constitutional change should be guided by the recommendations of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians. The first of the panel's recommendations is the removal of section 25 of the Constitution. Section 25 allows states to ban people from voting on the basis of their race. I think Australians, whether in Pitt Street in Sydney or in Oxford Street in Bulimba in Brisbane, would be offended if they knew that that provision was in the Constitution. Not only is it otiose it is racially discriminatory, and it should go. The report of the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples committee's report recommends, on an interim basis, that there is no need for section 25 to remain in the Constitution.

The expert panel recommended the deletion of section 51(xxvi). The member for Hasluck, the chair of the committee, accurately and appropriately mentioned the fact that that section mentions race. Section 51(xxvi) was amended in 1967 by the referendum that passed overwhelmingly after a concerted campaign by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as well as other Australians to change the Constitution to give the Commonwealth the power to pass laws in relation to Australia's first peoples. But that provision can also be used to discriminate. Of course, it has formed the constitutional basis for native title and other legislation, so to get rid of section 51(xxvi) would have legislative consequence. We have heard evidence by constitutional experts and by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that we need a provision in the Constitution giving the Commonwealth power in relation to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. During the committee's deliberations and in the development of its report there were lots of discussion and public submissions about how that provision should operate, about whether it should be a subject power. We have seen in the case of Williams in the High Court the problem where there is a subject power. We could inadvertently, by omission, take away from the Commonwealth's power and by carelessness reverse the consequence of the referendum of 1967, unless a peoples power was put in any amendment. The report deals with these issues.

The expert panel recommended the insertion of a new section 51A with preamble recognition of land, language and culture and, of course, the inclusion of a peoples power. After 250 consultations around the country, with many people making submissions and giving evidence, the expert panel recommended the adoption of a new section 116A, to ban racial discrimination in this country. It would have consequence. Subsection (1) of section 116A, recommended by the expert panel and considered in this report, talks about the Commonwealth, a state or a territory not being able to discriminate on the grounds of race or colour or of ethnic or national origin. It recommended a subsection (2) that provides that there can be laws:

… for the purpose of overcoming disadvantage, ameliorating the effects of past discrimination, or protecting the cultures, languages or heritage of any group.

The chair of the committee correctly stated that we received evidence on the importance of real, substantive change. Section 116A is integral to that. The form of the prohibition on racial discrimination is included in various options in this report, but one thing that is absolutely critical is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want there to be in the Constitution a prohibition on racial discrimination. Unequivocal and consistent evidence of that was given to the committee.

The expert panel proposed the insertion of a provision, section 127A, recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages as Australia's first tongues and confirming that English is Australia's national language. There has been no evidence given to the inquiry publicly to support that provision. The committee's report comments on that proposal.

Labor welcomes the interim report of the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. We remain committed to meaningful change in the Constitution, change that unites this country and reflects the hopes, dreams and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The Australian Constitution is the foundation document for our federation, for our laws and for our government, but it is silent on the special place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in this country, except to give tacit endorsement of discrimination in section 25 and the option that laws can be passed to discriminate against them under section 51(xxvi). Tragically, in this country Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lost the right to vote and it took six decades before they could get the right to vote, in the sixties, across the country.

Time is of the essence in this particular issue. We have an opportunity, a window, to make meaningful and substantive change. Symbolic and preambular change will not be accepted by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It will also not be accepted, in my view, by the Australian public—and in a referendum a majority of votes in a majority of states needs to be achieved. Preambular, formulaic and symbolic change will not be accepted by the Labor Party. We want meaningful change in the Constitution that reflects the hopes, dreams and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. If we are to go down the road of a referendum, it must be successful. There is an opportunity for this government, in a bipartisan way and including the other parties in this parliament, to get there.

I thank the committee chair for his genuineness and his goodwill in this endeavour and for the way this committee has operated. There have been frank discussions, open discussions and honest discussions. I believe there are people of goodwill who want this carried through all corners of this parliament—the House of Representatives and the Senate. I believe we must do this for the sake of our country.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of this continent have been forgotten for too long. Constitutional recognition is critical. This report shows a way forward and provides options. Labor remains ready, willing and available to discuss this issue with the government. We remain committed to meaningful and substantive change. I commend the committee. We have been part of this committee and we have contributed constructively to this report. I welcome all those people who will now provide submissions to this inquiry and encourage them to tell us what they want, to tell us what they dream of, to tell us what they aspire to and to tell us what they really believe the Australian nation in the 21st century should look like. Constitutional recognition has for too long been forgotten, as our first peoples have. We need to change. Labor remains committed to it.

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