‘We need the right set of words’: Wyatt’s plan to achieve constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians

Ken Wyatt has spoken about the chat with Scott Morrison that changed everything as he revealed plans to hold a referendum on indigenous constitutional recognition within three years.

Ken Wyatt was hanging washing in his backyard when he got a phone call from Prime Minister Scott Morrison that left him speechless for two minutes.

It was eight days after the federal election.

His wife initially thought there must have been a death in the family after seeing the expression on his face.

The West Australian MP described the moment in a powerful speech to the National Press Club in Canberra today, where he also revealed the government planned to hold a referendum on indigenous constitutional recognition within the next three years.

“I was hanging up a tablecloth on the Hills Hoist clothesline when the phone rang and the Prime Minister’s name came up,” Mr Wyatt said.

Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt says strict conditions must be met before a referendum on the constitutional recognition of Australia’s first peoples can be held. Picture: Gary Ramage

“I answered the phone with ‘Good morning, Prime Minister’ — I thought he might offer me my previous portfolio.”

Instead, it was an offer to be Australia’s first Aboriginal person to hold the portfolio of Minister for Indigenous Australians.

“His statement absolutely stunned me — not ‘Minister for Indigenous Affairs’ but ‘Minister for Indigenous Australians,” Mr Wyatt said.

“I choked with emotion at the honour and magnitude of the expectation that would come with being Minister for Indigenous Australians — it took me a full two minutes to answer him.

“In those two minutes, the emotions of our story as indigenous Australians welled up in me. “It’s hard to express what I actually felt and what it meant to me.

“The Prime Minister said ‘I take it by your silence, you’re saying ‘yes’?

“Then I found my voice, and said ‘Yes Prime Minister, I accept.”

REFERENDUM ON CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITION

Australians will have the chance to vote on changing the constitution to recognise the nation’s first peoples within the next three years, Mr Wyatt revealed in his speech today.

But the minister also declared he would only go ahead with a referendum if it would succeed.

In a wide-ranging address, Mr Wyatt also spoke openly about the Coalition under Malcolm Turnbull rejecting an indigenous voice to Parliament, proposed in 2017 in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, as “a third chamber of parliament”.

He said the Coalition had “moved on substantially since that time” but acknowledged he would have to convince some fellow MPs.

“There are colleagues who ... are reticent,” he said.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull rejected a push to create a “Makarrata Commission” of elected Indigenous elders that would supervise agreement-making between government and indigenous people. Picture: AAP

“In one of the comments made to me is ‘We don’t need a special group mentioned in the constitution’ but when I look at the constitution, Section 127, which was deleted in the [1967] referendum, talked about us specifically. [Section] 51.26 still mentions indigenous Australians - so they do have a special place.”

He added: “The journey is not going to be easy but that’s why I’ve asked people to walk with me and share their thoughts so that we can allay their fears.”

“This is not going to be done in a way that creates division in this nation.”

The minister added that he would work with Labor counterpart Linda Burney to find an approach to constitutional recognition that would get everyone onside.

The minister says the concept has strong corporate support and is hoping organisations will back it, like they did at the 1967 referendum.

Australians overwhelmingly voted on that occasion for changes to the constitution to include indigenous people in the census and allow the federal government to create laws for them.

INDIGENOUS YOUTH SUICIDE

The minister also put a spotlight on the need to tackle indigenous youth suicide, noting he was looking at international cases, such as the White Mountain Apache in the US, where First Nations people had decreased suicide rates.

He mentioned strategies such as making youth mental health support or crisis services available outside of business hours or on school holidays.

“We need to get the right services to the right people through outreach and frontline services, with tools like the mental health first aid kit,” Mr Wyatt said,

“Young people in the Kimberley have made it clear that suicides don’t happen between 9am and 5pm but often after when they are not accessible.

“They suggested organisations funded for Mental Health and suicide services consider after-hours services to enable youth to access support when they need it in times of crisis. Not a telephone line.”