Let's join hands to eradicate a historical wrong

Journey to recognition

THERE are issues that are simply above partisan politics.

Recognising indigenous Australians in our Constitution is one such issue.

For too long, our nation's road map, the Constitution, has not acknowledged the extraordinary history, culture and contribution of the first Australians.

With modern thinking, the flaws in the Constitution become self-evident. They are not only the act of omission but are also prescriptions such as the existing sections that allow states to ban people of a race from voting and that enable the government to make special laws for "people of any race".

These provisions simply have to go.

By not removing them we are affirming the prejudices of the past and holding back our country from pursuing what can be an even brighter and more harmonious future.

Sometimes we do not fully appreciate how lucky we are to have such a unique indigenous culture in this country.

Australians readily hop on a plane to visit Machu Picchu in Peru to see the result of extraordinary ingenuity employed by a civilisation 600 years ago. To visit the Temple of Luxor in Egypt is to see colossal buildings erected about 3500 years ago by an exotic culture long departed.

Yet the Dreamtime pre-dates all this by thousands of years and remains a part of indigenous life today.

The ancient stories of the woma python woman Kuniya and Liru, the poisonous snake man, inform the contemporary way the Anangu people relate to Uluru.

For the Gagudju people of northern Australia, Almudj, the Rainbow Serpent, is the creator of rivers and waterholes and is the powerful force behind the wet season every year.

Indigenous knowledge has used fire as a means of regenerating the land in a way that has sustained it for 40,000 years. Indigenous medicine has used emu bush as an antibiotic, desert mushrooms to treat oral thrush and snake vine to treat arthritis.

All of this emanates from the oldest continuing culture on earth, a culture that, across the entire course of habitation of this continent, has dominated the human story of Australia.

Yet during the past two centuries European Australia hasn't told the stories or afforded that respect to indigenous Australia.

Rather than a contribution to humanity worthy of being cherished, Australian indigenous culture was often seen as one that needed to be assimilated. Policies that allowed the removal of indigenous children from their parents were a very painful illustration of this clash of cultures.

Since our Constitution was altered in 1967 to count indigenous Australians as citizens, Australia has been on a journey to afford proper respect, rights and position to Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and their culture.

It has been a bipartisan effort, from Harold Holt and Gough Whitlam working together on the referendum in 1967, which achieved a yes vote of more than 90 per cent, to Kevin Rudd and Brendan Nelson reaching across the aisle in 2008 to make a historic apology in parliament for the "profound grief, suffering and loss" inflicted on our fellow Australians. Now Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott are committed to going one step further.

Whoever wins the election will have responsibility for drafting new language for the Constitution that, after appropriate public consultation, will be put to the Australian people at a referendum.

This will be no easy task, for history tells us referendums more often than not are defeated. Only eight out of 44 have succeeded, with the last successful referendum held 36 years ago.

However, we cannot afford to fail. If we do, we will not only set back the path of reconciliation and miss what Noel Pearson has called a "great, nation-changing opportunity".

A referendum will afford Australians the opportunity to be the best that they can be. We should not miss it.

This is why every Australian has a vested interest in the success of the Journey to Recognition campaign.

From former Essendon champion Michael Long's first steps on the weekend in a vast relay that will cover every state and territory to the AFL's inspired Indigenous Round, Australians across the country are readying themselves to get behind the case for change.

While there will always be those who seek to delay the movement for constitutional change by saying that the real priorities for Aboriginal reconciliation lie in education, health and welfare reform, we say to them you are wrong. It is never either-or.

Constitutional recognition will reinforce and complement the dramatic and positive changes under way in so many Aboriginal communities.

Economic participation and personal and social responsibility are on the way, while passivity and dependency are on the way down.

But there is a long way go and constitutional recognition is an important step.

Working together - black and white, young and old, Labor and Liberal - this is an opportunity we cannot let slip, to demonstrate the modern character of our nation.

Josh Frydenberg is the Liberal federal member for Kooyong and Richard Marles is the Labor member for Corio.