Abbott's Aboriginal referendum

[Neferti]

If there is any constitution change I just hope that they finally recognise whites

Whites are easy to recognise. They're the ones sporting crocs and rat tails

.... plus blue eyes .......

[Rorschach]

Tony Abbott vows to 'sweat blood' for Indigenous referendum
Date December 11, 2014
Michael Gordon
Political editor, The Age
View more articles from Michael Gordon

Tony Abbott wants a referendum to be held in May 2017 to recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution, but won't commit to a date until he is confident it will succeed.

"I am prepared to sweat blood on this," the Prime Minister declared at a Recognise dinner at Redfern on Thursday night, saying the cause was "at least as important as all the other causes this government has been prepared to take on".

While he favoured putting the question on the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum, Mr Abbott said: "But I do not want it to fail because every Australian would be the loser. It is more important to get this right than to try to rush it through.

"We cannot finalise when the referendum should be held until we are comfortable that we have the proposal with the best chance of success."

Mr Abbott told the fundraising dinner he was a supporter of constitutional recognition because he wants our country "to transcend the 'them and us' mindset to embrace 'all of us' in the spirit of generous inclusion that has always marked Australians at our best".

"Like John Howard before me – and like Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard and it seems at least 60 per cent of the population – I am a supporter of constitutional recognition," he said.

"But 60 per cent support for a principle certainly doesn't guarantee success at a referendum. I know, because I helped to defeat the republican cause that was overwhelmingly supported by the Labor Party, significantly supported by the Liberal Party and backed by every major newspaper editorial in the country.

"So the question that we have to ask ourselves is not whether we support constitutional recognition but whether we want it passed - because to be passed, constitutional change has to satisfy a majority of the people in a majority of the states."

Mr Abbott recalled how he had told his former colleagues at Australians for Constitutional Monarchy to suspend their scepticism. "I said that it was impossible to cherish every clause of a constitution except the provision to change it."

"The country we created has an Aboriginal heritage, a British foundation and a multicultural character and it's high time that this reality was reflected in our Constitution.

"We have got to get the words right because words are our only way to say what we mean and we need to know exactly what we mean before we put anything to a vote."

Speaking after Mr Abbott, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the referendum question needed to be settled before the next election to allow the campaign to move forward.

"Without a specific change to advocate, it's not possible to raise awareness beyond the abstract," Mr Shorten said.

Until the question was finalised, Mr Shorten argued, there would be a "vacuum" which could be filled by misinformation.

He said a constitutional convention should be convened to develop the question, and the process should be overseen by a referendum council, "a council of elders if you like", to ensure it was not hijacked by extremists. Or people who disagree with them...

He said change needed to be "substantive", not merely "symbolic", and he said he believed the "great silent majority" of Australians wanted to banish discrimination from the constitution.

Mr Abbott's remarks came ahead of a report showing that $30 billion was spent on services for Indigenous Australians last financial year, while outcomes went backwards in a range of key areas, including mental health, self-harm and incarceration.

Publication of the Productivity Commission report has prompted widespread calls for an independent evaluation of programs, with critics saying too much of the money is spent on dealing with negative outcomes, like the rise in incarceration rates, and not enough on prevention.

The report estimates that total spending per person was $43,449 for Indigenous Australians and $20,900 for other Australians - a ratio of 2.08 to 1. It says spending on services for Indigenous Australians made up 6.1 per cent of total direct government spending, while Indigenous Australians made up 3 per cent of the population.

A range of experts stressed the need to "unpack" the figures and called for an independent evaluation of programs.

"I think there is a crying need for the Productivity Commission to have a broader brief to look at this issue of effectiveness," said Fred Chaney, whose experience across a range of Indigenous areas spans several decades.

"I can understand that Aboriginal people are very sceptical about those figures and I think they require further analysis," Mr Chaney, a former indigenous affairs minister, said. "The critical defect is that we are sensibly measuring levels of disadvantage and sensibly measuring expenditure, but doing very little to examine the effectiveness of expenditure."

The chief executive of Reconciliation Australia, Justin Mohamed, supported a Productivity Commission evaluation of programs, saying there was plenty of evidence that programs run by Indigenous organisations with good governance produced positive results.

"We've got to support the programs and activities that are delivering the best results," he said.

A breakdown of the figures shows a big increase in spending on police services, prisons and corrective services since 2008-9.

Social justice and human rights advocate Tom Calma said the figures highlighted the need for a new approach, saying: "They've got to engage more with people in the communities on how programs are developed and delivered."

Dr Calma also argued that higher spending was needed because of the 10-year life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the higher cost of services in remote Australia and the high proportion of under-25s in the Indigenous population.

[Rorschach]

Well Mr Abbott and Mr Shorten.... I'll still be voting NO!

[boxy]

So, no surprises there

[Rorschach]

Got nothin except ad hom as usual eh poxy... you little worm...

[TheCult]

I thought they all went back to abusing their kids, trashing free housing commission homes at our expense and drinking VB after Kevin Rudd said Sorry(Which did absolutely Nothing except make the greens have a bong party). To be fair their are a few that actually want to get ahead, its usually their leeching on bogan relos that trash any descent job they get.

It is time to move on from this stupid indigenous complex over nothing.

[Rorschach]

Constitutional recognition of Indigenous people 'racist': Senator David Leyonhjelm

By political reporter Jonathon Gul

Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm has come out against the Federal Government's push to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution.

Late last year, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was prepared to "sweat blood" to ensure Indigenous people received constitutional recognition.

But Senator Leyonhjelm has told the Upper House the proposed legislation singles out Aboriginal people on the basis of race.

"Giving legal recognition to characteristics held by certain persons — particularly when those characteristics are inherent, like ancestry — represents a perverse sort of racism," he said.

"Although it appears positive, it still singles some people out on the basis of race."

He also described the bill as divisive, quoting part of the legislation, which reads: "The Parliament, on behalf of the people of Australia, acknowledges and respects the continuing cultures, languages and heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples."

"This is divisive," Senator Leyonhjelm said.

"It is likely that some Australians do not respect the cultures, languages or heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

"What is the Parliament doing to these people when it asserts that the people of Australia respect Aboriginal cultures? It is casting them as 'un-Australian'."

Senator Leyonhjelm also quoted part of the legislation which read: "The Parliament, on behalf of the people of Australia, acknowledges the continuing relationship of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with their traditional lands and waters."

He warned that it stereotyped Indigenous people.

"It is likely that some Aboriginal people do not have a relationship with traditional lands and waters," he said.

"What is the Parliament doing to these people when it asserts that Aboriginal peoples have such a relationship? It is denying their Aboriginality."