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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-05-25 Daily Xml
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Aboriginal Constitutional Recognition

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (14:38): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation. Can the minister advise the chamber on how the government is supporting constitutional recognition for Aboriginal people?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:39): I thank the honourable member for her important question. The issue of constitutional recognition of Aboriginal people is certainly not a bipartisan but a multipartisan approach that has long been taken in South Australia and Australia generally. We took the step a couple of years ago, under the former minister for Aboriginal affairs, to recognise Aboriginal people as the original custodians of the lands and waterways of South Australia, and we changed our Constitution Act to reflect that, which was a very significant thing that we did in South Australia and that enjoyed very broad multipartisan support.

Certainly, the push for recognition in the federal constitution enjoys similar multipartisan support, which is regularly needed when you are changing the constitution. Only something like eight of the 44 or 45 referendums to change our constitution have been successful, so that support across the political spectrum is incredibly important. I am very pleased that on Monday, the South Australian government became only the second state or territory to officially sign on as a campaign partner with Recognise.

Recognise, which is the lead campaign for this area within Reconciliation Australia, is helping Australians understand the importance and meaning of constitutional recognition for Aboriginal people. I would like to thank Recognise for the very important work that they do and have been doing to ensure the success of this campaign, and hopefully the success of a referendum. I would particularly like to thank Tanya Hosch, an Indigenous woman from South Australia, who is the co-director of Recognise.

Our constitution is not just a practical document; it is a powerful symbol of democracy and a statement of our common values and beliefs which remain fundamental to modern Australia. It does not just provide a framework for how society operates now; it also shows where we have been as a nation, and where we are going.

What struck me this week after we signed on as an official campaign partner were the comments made on ABC radio by University of South Australia Professor Irabinna Rigney, a leader in the South Australian Aboriginal community, who described the constitution as the 'birth certificate of the nation,' and I think that is a good analogy. A birth certificate rightly describes where you have come from, and I think describing our constitution as the 'birth certificate of a nation' is a good analogy. It is unusual that it does not describe where this land has come from or make mention of 40,000 years of continuous habitation of the oldest living culture in the world.

Enshrining the recognition of Aboriginal people in our constitution will make the important statement that Aboriginal people matter to this nation and its people, and that they matter to our history, our values, our conscience and our spirit. It is a glaring omission in historical terms, but, much more importantly, it amounts to an erasure of the tens of thousands of years of Aboriginal history that preceded European settlement. The government believes that by continuing to exclude this recognition in our constitution, it sends the wrong message for reconciliation. That is why it is important, as we have done in South Australia, to correct this omission in our nation's founding document.

I especially want to commend, from the announcement this week, Mr Adam Goodes, a South Australian, Adnyamathanha and Narungga man, an AFL legend, former Australian of the Year, and an ambassador for the Recognise campaign. Life after football has presented Adam with many opportunities, and he has chosen to give back very strongly with the Recognise campaign and to fight for recognition in the constitution. I commend him for using his public profile for this greater good in advancing this cause.

I look forward to federally doing what we have done in this state: the recognition of our first peoples in our constitution. I know that there is a very good aim to have this referendum in May next year, which will be the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum, which included Aboriginal people in our national census for the first time. I am committed, as I know the South Australian government is committed, as are those on a state and federal level right across the political spectrum, to making this recognition happen.

The PRESIDENT: Supplementary, the Hon. Ms Vincent.

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