Reflection on Referendums

Reflection on Referendums

May 25, 2017

May 27th, 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum.

Most Australians think this Referendum gave Aboriginal Australians the right to vote.  That is not so.  Aboriginal people had the right to vote in all Australian elections well before the referendum of 1967.

The questions posed to the Australian people in the 1967 Referendum were about changing two sections of the Constitution, one which excluded Commonwealth government involvement in the welfare of Aboriginal people, and another which prevented Aboriginal people from being included in Commonwealth censuses.  90.77% of Australian people voted in favour of the changes proposed in the referendum.

Successful referenda are hard come by in Australia.  The overwhelming result of the 1967 Referendum came after decades of campaigning by Aboriginal people that they have the same rights as other Australians. There is no doubt the result had great symbolic meaning for Aboriginal people who saw it as ensuring the rights and protections of Australian citizenship were available to all Australians.

So how much has changed for Aboriginal people in the 50 years since the 1967 referendum?

Given the disparity that still exists between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians on every major social and economic measure, the anniversary of the Referendum gives us another opportunity to highlight that much still needs to be done to ensure every Australian has by right, a living standard commensurate with citizenship in a developed country.

Presently work is being undertaken on the wording of another referendum question about the place of Aboriginal people in the Constitution and soon it will be put to the Australian people.  As it is presently worded, the Constitution reads as if Australia’s national story began with the arrival of the British colonists. Its wording also allows the Commonwealth government to discriminate against people on the basis of their race. The new referendum aims at making changes in both these areas.

When the wording of the questions to be put in this next referendum are agreed, and assuming it is passed by the Australian people, (wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a similar positive response to that achieved in 1967) we cannot assume that there is nothing more in relation to Aboriginal people we as a nation need to address.

There is still the issue that there has never been any agreement between the descendants of the Australia’s First People and the descendants of those who have come later as to how we will share the rights, responsibilities and resources of this land. Two states, Victoria and South Australia, have begun conversations with their Aboriginal people about what a shared sovereignty in their states might look like.

The rest of the nation would do well to consider doing the same.

Laraine Crowe rsj