Indigenous recognition: lessons from the 1967 referendum
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“The whole problem of constitutional change in our country is bedevilled by the fact that the disposition of the people is to say ‘when in doubt, vote no’. The change suggested needs to be crystal clear.”
Liberal party icon Sir Robert Menzies in 1965.Credit:R. L. Stewart
This might sound like a Morrison government minister speaking in the wake of its federal election victory, urging caution on Indigenous recognition.
But, in fact, it was Liberal party icon Sir Robert Menzies who spoke those words 54 years ago, as his government started wrestling with the way Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were dealt with (or more accurately, ignored) in Australia’s constitution.
Two years later, in 1967, came the passage under Harold Holt of a landmark referendum which, for the first time, gave the federal government power to make laws for Australia’s First Peoples, and scrapped the restrictions on their being counted for constitutional purposes (a provision mainly related to financial grants to the states).
Article source: https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/we-can-t-engineer-a-way-out-of-the-cramped-hell-of-bangladesh-camps-20180420-p4zars.html?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_world
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