Indigenous referendum plans ‘would ignore Uluru Statement work’

The Morrison government has been blasted for pushing for a referendum that ‘ignores the wishes of indigenous Australians’.

Referendum Council co-chair Pat Anderson during the Uluru convention in 2017. Picture: AAP

The Morrison government is pushing for a referendum on constitutional recognition that ignores the work and wishes of indigenous Australians who repeatedly and categorically rejected symbolism, co-chair of the Referendum Council Pat Anderson says.

Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt revealed on Wednesday that he wanted to take the nation to a referendum on constitutional recognition in the first half of 2021 “at the latest”.

In doing so, he acknowledged that key supporters of the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart were deeply disappointed there was no plan to include a question on a constitutionally enshrined indigenous voice to parliament. Mr Wyatt, an Aboriginal man, urged pragmatism and warned that division in the indigenous community would result in a lost opportunity.

Ms Anderson’s opposition to symbolic recognition and a constitutional statement of recognition pre-dates the Uluru statement.

It was one of the reasons for the ­establishment of the Referendum Council and the abolition of Recognise, she said.

An Alyawarre woman who helped oversee the Referendum Council report on how best to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution, Ms Anderson said there was wide support for the Uluru statement.

“We invited the Australian people to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people and we are buoyed by the support by everyday Australians as well as key corporations, community organisations and many others,” Ms Anderson said.

The Uluru statement was presented to the Australian people after talks with 1200 indigenous people around the nation.

“Symbolic recognition was expressly rejected throughout the ­dialogues and Uluru convention,” she said. “Instead, it was the consensus of First Nations in 2017 that a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament is both a symbolic and substantive form of recognition.

“The Referendum Council was set up in 2015 because indigenous people had not been properly consulted. Those consultations occurred across 2016 and 2017. Now the entire process is being ignored.

“Why would the government set a firm date for a referendum next year on a proposal that was rejected in 2015 at the Kirribilli meeting and again at the Uluru national constitutional convention 2017?

“Symbolic recognition alone will not provide the transfor­mative power required to change ­people’s lives on the ground.’’

Mr Wyatt hoped a referendum bill would be ready by the end of the year. A spokesman said on Thursday a deadline had not been set.

Opposition indigenous affairs spokeswoman Linda Burney said it was not too late for the Morrison government to “do the right thing and support the Uluru statement”.

West Australian Aboriginal ­Affairs Minister Ben Wyatt, an ­Aboriginal man and nephew to the federal minister, said his uncle’s greatest challenge was to unite ­Aboriginal leadership behind a plan that did not come close to meeting the standard outlined at Uluru.

“Personally, while I’ll await the final detail of the government’s plans, I suspect I’ll always support a referendum to support the recognition of Aboriginal people, even if it does fall short of what was hoped for, as I fear a referendum that fails will set the campaign back decades,” he said.