My entry for the preamble competition follows. I just want to make clear that I don't have a clue on how a preamble should be written in legal terms or constitutional terms so I concentrated on the substance rather than the form. Would appreciate comments and/or criticisms. Trudy ******************************************* March 2, 1999 Preamble We, the people of Australia do, by all we hold sacred, profess the following truths: We recognise and honour the Aboriginal Peoples of this land -- their beliefs, laws and cultures -- as the founding peoples of Australia. We recognise that Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islanders, as heirs of the Dreamtime, have prior and continuing rights lodged in land and sea and in the bounties of both. We hail those from other lands who came more recently in the time span of this ancient continent and yet with hard work and dedication created a democratic and independent nation; a harmonious society that accommodates the diverse cultures of many origins. We recognise our interdependency on the web of life together with the many unique plants, animals, fragile soils and rivers of this magnificent land and affirm that we will strive to protect all so that all may continue to live. We affirm the essential equality of women and men as we do the equality of all before the law. We acknowledge our system of government as one of representative democracy and responsible government dedicated to just governance in accordance with democratic principles and for the well-being of all who dwell in Australia. We, the people of Australia, asserting our sovereignty, hold that it is our duty to abolish tyranny, injustice and greed where it occurs amongst us and affirm that the human rights of our people and the environmental rights of our land shall be paramount. Trudy Bray ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use."
