by Chris Graham
That a first world nation like Australia actually has to “debate” the merits of removing racially discriminatory powers from its founding document speaks volumes about us as a people. It begs the question: why would a nation which claims to respect basic human rights need constitutional powers to discriminate on the basis of race?
The original intent of constitutional reform is, broadly speaking, three-fold.
1. To amend the preamble to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s special place in Australian society as the original custodians.
2. To amend section 25, which specifically allows for the disqualification of any race of people from voting in an Australian election. It’s never been used, but given the current political direction in this country, it’s not a bad idea to curb these powers sooner rather than later.
3. To amend section 51, known as the race powers, which enable the parliament to make laws both for the benefit of, and detriment of, any race of people. Unlike section 25, 51 has been used, and on every occasion it’s been to harm the interests of Aboriginal people. It’s section 51 which was tested in the Hindmarsh Islands affair, and which affirmed the power of parliament to suspend the Racial Discrimination Act to specifically disadvantage Aboriginal people (this was done in Hindmarsh, in Wik, and in the introduction of the NT intervention).
The debate centres on recommendations from a 22-member expert panel, which delivered its report in January 2012. It recommended that “the Constitution be altered to remove racist sections and create power for the advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and the protection of language and culture. It also called for a clause against racial discrimination”.
All very sensible and edifying stuff. But it’s about as likely to succeed as a gay, black refugee running for Liberal Party pre-selection in the Sunshine Coast seat of Fisher.
It has nothing to do with bipartnership either. Labor isn’t keen to amend the race powers either, because Labor has also been relying on them to beat the crap out of Aboriginal people (Labor, you’ll recall, supported the passage of Wik and the NT intervention).
But none of it, of course, matters much to Aboriginal people, because while opinion is diverse in black Australia on the need for constitutional reform, the overwhelming majority of Aboriginal people have better things to do.
Firstly, Aboriginal people don’t expect Australia will wake up to itself and do the right thing. They’ve become very good at setting their expectations very low in order to avoid disappointment.
Aboriginal people understand very well that the chances of an Australian Parliament in this day and age leading the charge to dilute its powers to discriminate is zero. If anything, this Parliament is heading in the opposite direction. (The recent extension of the Northern Territory intervention laws for another 10 years is a case in point. So too is the asylum seeker debate.)
Knocking out change to the race powers leaves only a new preamble, which is akin to throwing a drowning man a brick, and which is viewed by Aboriginal people as a “warm and fuzzy” designed to ease white guilt and boost international tourism. To borrow a phrase from renowned Aboriginal artist Richard Bell, it is “a white thing”.
Secondly, Aboriginal people want to talk about other stuff, like treaty, sovereignty and land rights. So why the lack of interest? Bitter personal experience with the gratuitous exploitation of symbolism by cynical white politicians. Exhibit A is Kevin Rudd and his 2008 apology. When the apology was delivered, Aboriginal people united in celebration. Many genuinely believed that as a nation, we’d entered a new era in black/white relations.
And then Rudd’s Labor got back on with the business of eroding the rights of the nation’s most disadvantaged. The NT intervention continued unchecked, and was extended for another 10 years. Rudd’s promise in opposition to provide reparations and a comprehensive response to the Bringing Them Home report was abandoned. He also broke his promise to move Australia Day to a more inclusive date.
At virtually every public event at which Rudd appears, it's mentioned that he delivered the “apology”. He’s milked that for all its worth for years. He even had the gall to present the Pope with a bound copy of the apology, despite the fact that by then, the overwhelming majority of Aboriginal people had begun to reject it.
Gillard was no better. She used her first Close the Gap report card to Parliament in 2011 to blame Aboriginal people for their poverty. And it was her office which engineered the debacle at the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Aboriginal Embassy in Canberra (where, it’s worth remembering, Aboriginal people gathered not to discuss constitutional reform, but treaty, sovereignty and land rights).
My personal view is that Aboriginal people would be well advised to join with others to knock the notion of constitutional reform on the head.
While I acknowledge that symbolism is important, it is only worth embracing when it’s in the hands of politicians who will use it responsibly, and back it up with practical measures and outcomes. Otherwise, it is simply another mechanism for Australian leaders to strut the world stage and try and portray this nation in a light that it does not deserve.
In short, while the Northern Territory intervention laws remain on our books; while the jailing rates of Aboriginal people are world-beaters; while Aboriginal children die of rheumatic heart disease; while governments deny Aboriginal people basic land and human rights … there should be no engagement with government by Aboriginal leaders on constitutional reform.