The following letter is for distribution regarding the coming referendum
......
Dear Sir
The debate about the Republic, and ironically the preamble, has largely
passed Aborigines by. Neither the 'Yes' nor the 'No' camps bothered to
come near Aborigines to talk about the implications of Aborigines
supporting their position. The only thing our people saw from the
respective groups was the glossy leaflets which made no effort to explain
why Aborigines should support either case.
There was a failure to broadly involve Aborigines in the debate about the
form of words to be used in the preamble. Whether Aborigines even
preferred for the reference to Aborigines to be placed in the preamble
instead of in the body of the Constitution is completely unknown: outside
of a selected few, Aborigines have been badly denied access and input.
We are urging people to vote 'no' at the coming referendum. It is not
because we support the monarchy, far from it. It is because we believe
some fundamental unfinished business needs to be sorted out between
Australians and Aborigines before Australia feels free to go off, so to
speak, to deal with the symbolism of the Republic. The type of outstanding
issues involves constitutional questions such as whether Aborigines have
the right to self-determination or a right to enter into a treaty.
A successful 'yes' vote to the preamble and Republican questions will not
bring about any legal change which will positively affect the rights of
Aborigines. Issues of land, health, deaths in custody and
self-determination remain unresolved. By inference, the head of state
issue is a priority over Aboriginal rights for the republicans, otherwise
they would defer the current referendum and made it conditional on a
satisfactory resolution to the Aboriginal rights issue.
Support for a symbolic change to Australia's perceived political
allegiances would be justified where the campaign displayed character and
integrity, two features sadly lacking here. It is difficult to distinguish
the two camps: the monarchists have historically neglected Aboriginal
issues, and the republicans show they are prepared to do the same. What
message are the republicans sending by supporting a campaign which
symbolically gives Australians a new sense of direction while reducing
Aboriginal rights to a meaningless preamble ?
Some Aboriginal leaders have personally supported the referendum. That
does not mean the position they have adopted is universally the view of
Aboriginal people.
If Australia is to move ahead in the new millennium it cannot close the
chapter or its obligations arising from its past. There is unfinished
business.
Jack Beetson, NSW; Geoff Clark, VIC; Josie Crawshaw, NT; Pat Dodson, WA;
Les Malezer, QLD; Michael Mansell, TAS; Glen Shaw, WA; Peter Yu, WA.
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