Delay on indigenous referendum backed

Key players have broadly welcomed an extension of the time­frame for a proposal on constit­utional recognition.

National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples co-chair Jackie Huggins says the decision to delay the indigenous referendum was timely because ‘we have not (yet) had the debate; we have not had the conversations’. Picture: Gary Ramage

Key players have broadly welcomed an extension of the time­frame for a proposal on constit­utional recognition, with the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples expressing hopes it will “ensure that our people are informed, consulted and have a say in the process”.

Two years ago, former prime minister Tony Abbott mooted May 27, 2017, as an appropriate date for a referendum to consider the constitutional change, being the 50th anniversary of the poll that saw indigenous Australians counted on the census.

But the Referendum Council appointed last December to ­advise on timelines and recommend questions now says it will not have that final report until mid-next year. Mr Abbott ­declined to comment yesterday on the latest move, but Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten have welcomed the council’s continuing deliberations.

Congress co-chair Jackie Huggins said the decision was timely because “we have not (yet) had the debate; we have not had the conversations”.

The council will embark on a series of up to 18 nationwide consultations with indigenous groups, aiming to finish at Uluru on the May 27 anniversary. Practicalities around the impending wet season, and the need for translators in communities, will need to be addressed and could affect the schedule.

Dr Huggins’s fellow congress co-chair Rod Little pointed out that there had still not been an official response to a 2012 expert panel report, or a joint parliamentary report which followed it, on constitutional recognition.

“As yet there has been no ­response at all from government to any of these reports,” Mr Little said. “It would have been ­immensely useful to have some parameters within which to frame these discussions.”

Joint campaign director of the Recognise awareness campaign Tim Gartrell said the extension gave a “confirmed time­frame for the council’s detailed model consultation and reporting to government”. “Australians are impatient to be part of fixing the Constitution,” he said.