Indigenous referendum on 1967 anniversary date dumped

The date of May 27 next year for a referendum on constitutional recognition of indigenous Australia has been abandoned.

Referendum Council co-chair Mark Liebler.

The symbolic date of May 27 next year for a referendum on constitutional recognition of indigenous Australia has been officially abandoned — although the 50th anniversary of full citizenship rights is likely still to feature in the process, albeit for a deliberation at Uluru.

The 16-member Referendum Council appointed by Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten last ­December met in Melbourne yesterday and announced a new timeframe for its work.

Both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader had previously expressed support for May 27 next year, the anniversary of the referendum that led to indigenous Australians being counted in the census, to be the symbolically ­important date for a new poll. However, the council said it would submit a report based on the outcome of up to 18 ­indigenous-only consultations nationwide, culminating with the Uluru gathering, by mid-2017. This is expected to be used in the formulation of any referendum question. A key issue discussed yesterday was ensuring indigenous Australians were active in determining exactly what recognition entails.

Council co-chairs Mark Liebler and Pat Anderson told members Mr Turnbull and Mr Shorten had expressed to them their “joint and ongoing commitment” towards a successful referendum, and said the Prime Minister had expressed his wish that “no proposal proceed without the support of indigenous people”.

Leadership meetings held in Broome, Thursday Island and Melbourne in recent weeks raised a series of issues going ­beyond the initial recommendations of an ­expert panel that ­reported to Julia Gillard in 2012, and those of a subsequent joint parliamentary committee. The meetings have canvassed notions of binding agreements with First Australian nations, and council member Noel Pearson called at last week’s Garma festival in northeast Arnhem Land for the creation of a type of extra-­parliamentary indigenous body that could give legislative advice. This “voice”, as the council calls it, will be one of several ­options put at the indigenous consultations, which could yet conclude that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders do not want a referendum at all if it only offers minimal recognition.

In a statement yesterday it was noted that the broad range of views being raised at the ­leadership meetings was “to be expected given the complexity of the issue, the diversity of people being canvassed across the ­country and the reality that indigenous peoples had not been given such an opportunity ­previously to express their hopes and concerns to the wider ­community”.

Practical challenges for the indigenous consultations will include the fact the upcoming wet season in northern Australia will make many parts of the country inaccessible for several months.