Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians: Background Context

"Did you know that Australia is the only Commonwealth nation that doesn’t have a treaty with its Indigenous people? ... "

Section 51 (xxvi) The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to: ...The people of any race, other than the aboriginal people in any State, for whom it is necessary to make special laws.

"Saturday 27th of May marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum in which Australians voted overwhelmingly to amend the Constitution to allow the Commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people and include them in the census ... "

The problem for remote Indigenous communities isn’t remoteness. It’s lack of economic participation by the people who live in them. Social breakdown is inevitable when families don’t participate in the real economy for generations, whether their community has 300 or 3 million people.

"Here is a little truth we haven't heard much about this week: We know how to close the gap. Hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people are living successful, healthy, stimulating lives. I am one of them ... "

"Ten years ago this month, the then prime minister, John Howard, and his Indigenous affairs minister, Mal Brough, launched the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) into remote Indigenous communities ... "

"ARCHITECT of the controversial Northern Territory intervention Mal Brough has declared the radical policy he masterminded to end a crisis in Aboriginal Australia a comprehensive failure, amid escalating violence and dysfunction in Alice Springs.
The Howard government indigenous affairs minister said his policy, introduced in mid-2007, needed to be dramatically advanced in order for it to deliver lasting social change. But he claimed the Gillard government had left it "stagnant", allowing dysfunction to grow ... "