Proposed recognition of Aboriginals in Australia's Constitution will mean recognition of a nation state within the Commonwealth Of Australia that will co-exist,and is not likely to be subservient or subject to the Australian Parliament, but entitled to the wealth of the entire country

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

Australia's Labor Government has set the country on course to a referendum that is intended to amend Australia's federal Constitution. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says:

This referendum will give Australians the chance to write a new chapter into our Constitution:

"Chapter IX Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice

In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:

1. There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice; 
2. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
3. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.”

Recognition is not defined, and why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (or First Nations) , who are in fact citizens of Australia, has not been explained.  However,  Eddie Synot , an Aboriginal Law Lecturer at  Griffith Law School, Griffith University makes clear that recognition in the Constitution means recognising a First Nations people as a new nation state within the Commonwealth Of Australia. 

That recognition of nation state rather than a new state of territory means the Aboriginal nation state would co-exist as an entity with the Commonwealth Of Australia.Being co-existent it would be entitled to the wealth of the entire country, and the Voice, which is part of the amendments cannot then be limited to a mere advisory function as Albanese and others have said. 

As Aboriginal constitutional law expert Professor Megan Davis puts its The Voice cannot be limited. White Australian constitutional laws experts Kenneth Haynes and Anne Twomey have sought to limit the extent of The Voice's powers, but even they do not provide any legal basis for that limitation. 

Prime Minister Albnese has in fact foreshadowed a future of shared  wealth, witht he Aboriginal LAnd Councils in effective control of the country's resources.

TO BE READ WITH 

Saturday, August 5, 2023

Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginals means handing over mineral ,agricultural and all other property to Aboriginal Land Councils who will decide how the revenue from those assets will be spent on themselves - Australia's PM Albanese provides first indication of what a Yes vote for his Voice referendum will mean

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

David Speers and Anthony Albanese at Garma Festival 2023.(ABC News: Michael Franchi)ABC reporting about the interview says nothing about Albanese's partial explanation of what recognition will mean

Speaking to David Speers on ABC Insiders this morning Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese provided the first real explanation as to what "Recognition" of Australian citizens who identify as Aboriginals might mean. 

He repeated (in essence)  these statements made earlier in the week:

"The Dhupuma Barker School at Gunyangara is truly a local success, the school attendance rates show what works," he said.

"It arose from listening, it arose from government following decision-making from the bottom up, which is why it is so important."

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney said the Garma Institute would give Yolngu people the opportunity to continue their education without having to move away from family.

The benefit account receives money from the Commonwealth based on royalties generated from mining on Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory.

Albanese told Speers that he wanted to replicate this model throughout the country, and that that could only be done if his Voice referendum passes, and Australian Aboriginals are "recognised" in the Constitution. He did not say how or why they are not already recognised as Australian citizens, and seemed to echo Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson's assertion that Aboriginals are excluded from the Constitution.