National 5:05 pm AEST April 28 2000 Govt to decide who accepts reconciliation draft: Costello AAP -- The government, not the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, will decide who accepts the reconciliation document, Acting Prime Minister Peter Costello said today. The council wants Governor-General Sir William Deane to accept its historic document on behalf of the nation at a ceremony at the Sydney Opera House on May 27. This could sideline John Howard who has made reconciliation a major goal of his second term as prime minister. But Mr Costello said the decision was neither the council nor Sir William's to make. "The question of who actually receives it is a question for the government and the government advises the Governor-General on these matters," Mr Costello told journalists. "Once the government has decided its position, advice will be rendered to the Governor-General and that will be the outcome. "I think I'm right in saying under our constitutional system, the Queen's representative acts on the advice of the government and these are matters on which I'm sure the Governor-General would be seeking advice." Mr Costello also said he would consider joining the people's walk for reconciliation across the Sydney Harbour Bridge the day after the document was unveiled at Corroboree 2000. "I'm not sure I've been asked to walk across the bridge but obviously if I were asked and it were appropriate, obviously I would do it, yes," Mr Costello said. -- _________________________________ Truth is a pathless land. --- Krishnamurti ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ 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." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
