Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise to speak very briefly, because I am conscious that there are other senators who want to speak to other reports being tabled today. On the tabling today of the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples final report, we have had an interim report and this has been a long debate and discussion in this country that was begun during the term of the last government. There has been extensive consultation through the work of the expert panel.

I have come to this debate from a certain perspective, not being as ingrained in the issues around Indigenous recognition as many of the other senators and members I had the privilege to work on this committee. I would also like to thank the chair, Mr Ken Wyatt, and Senator Nova Peris, for their leadership throughout this inquiry, and from the way they constructed our hearings and the type of consultation we conducted. It was not just about our typical Senate procedure, where, you know, we end up with the usual suspects in front of the senators as they asked questions. We actually took an approach that meant we were going right out to communities to hear what Indigenous Australia had to say about this issue and what the states had to say about this issue. We met with Attorneys from across our great federation, and indeed premiers, and we received a lot of advice on their perspectives from where they sit with this particular question. We know that for any referendum it is not only the majority of voting Australians who need to approve it but also a majority of the states. This is the key to a discussion and a debate like this.

Both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have been very clear about their commitment to taking a referendum to the Australian people that will recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within our Constitution. I think some of the most compelling evidence we heard throughout the hearings was to do with the parameters of the question that was going to be put to the Australian people, and how we frame that question is going to have a big impact on its eventual success. I think it was George Williams who actually outlined to the committee steps that make a good referendum question and up the chances of success, and how we can frame the questions we take to the people to make it more likely it will go down. There is still a bit of work to do. The recommendations we have put forward as a committee highlight the fact that this is an ongoing conversation and we do not want to rush this process. We do not want to put before the Australian people a question that will not succeed.

We have addressed the issues of timing in this report—about when we think it will have the most chance of success. We have also committed to repealing section 25 of the Constitution. We have set out three options that would retain the persons power and leave that to others to ensure we get a form of words that will succeed.

One thing that I absolutely love about our Constitution is the fact that the Australian people are sovereign. I think we have held true to that value in the recommendations our committee has made, by committing to constitutional conventions being held in the wider public. But before the wider public of Australia comes together and debates this issue, we need to get a very clear and consistent message from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia. We are looking forward to some conventions and public consultations being held with those communities. I know there are more senators to speak, so, I seek leave to continue my remarks on this report at a later stage.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.