G-G urges speed on indigenous referendum

Governor-General David Hurley says Australia must move quickly to secure constitutional recognition of first peoples.

Governor-General David Hurley meets Aurukun locals in July.

Governor-General David Hurley says Australia must move quickly to secure constitutional recognition of Australia’s first peoples through a referendum or the opportunity may be lost.

Attending the Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures in northeast Arnhem Land, General Hurley says a referendum has been put on the table in this term of the federal government.

“Three years in the cycle of the country is a very short time, so we need to move fairly quickly,” he told ABC television on Saturday.

He agreed there are difficult issues to get through but said the community had to be part of it in a frank, respectful discussion.

“History is, if we vote no [in a referendum], they’re are either very slow to resurface or they don’t resurface,” he said.

One problem was that many people still did not understand Aboriginal culture.

“We’re getting to it in our schools and so forth, but it’s slow and where the issues that are on the table at the moment, I think it is important to be more aware of what Aboriginal culture is as your are talking about the issues,” General Hurley said.

While Prime Minister Scott Morrison has so far ruled out an indigenous voice in the federal parliament, Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt believes there is scope to change his mind.

“What I love about the Prime Minister is his preparedness to listen, his preparedness to take on different perspectives,” Mr Wyatt told ABC television on Saturday.

A “voice” was part of the Uluru statement made in 2017 in pursuit of constitutional recognition of Australia’s first people through a referendum.

The issue was expected to dominate proceedings at the Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures in northeast Arnhem Land on Saturday, where Mr Wyatt is in attendance.

The government has promised a resolution in this three-year term. “What worries me is, if we fail on this, it will never be resurrected again, because no constitutional question that failed has ever been brought to the fore again,” Mr Wyatt said.

The Garma festival is on until Monday.

AAP