Indigenous leaders reject Noel Pearson’s call for new body

Aboriginal leaders are resisting a proposal from Noel Pearson for a new indigenous body to advise the government.

Aboriginal leaders are resisting a proposal from Cape York leader Noel Pearson for a new indigenous body to be enshrined in the Constitution to advise on government legislation.

Mr Pearson has argued for the body to be established alongside a declaration of recognition to give First Australians a voice in parliament. “At the moment our voice is zero, and our voice has been zero since 1901,” he said on ABC’s Q&A on Monday night.

Reconciliation Australia’s co-chairman, Tom Calma, agreed that indigenous Australians were not represented in parliament as a population group, but said this could be addressed without constitutional change.

A report he prepared as the country’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner in 2008 suggested a ­national indigenous representative body could be legislated and have a direct reporting relationship with parliament through its annual report and committee work.

Although elected Aboriginal members and senators repre­sented indigenous interests, they were an “insignificant” minority and constrained by party position.

Dr Calma said there were ways to circumvent this that did not ­require constitutional reform.

“It is just the will of the government and opposition that are holding it back,” he said.

The National Congress of ­Australia’s First Peoples was the elected representative body for ­indigenous Australia.

Tony Abbott’s indigenous ­adviser, Warren Mundine, also label­led Mr Pearson “illogical” for pursuing a race-based policy while wanting race clauses removed from the Constitution.

He said race-based representative groups had failed in the Fijian and Lebanese parliaments.