Welcoming news that further consultation will take place with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians on the establishment of a representative body, Senior Partner Mark Leibler says the agreement reached at Uluru must be respected.
Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt and Prime Ministerial Adviser Chris Sarra have suggested that the central recommendation of the Referendum Council could be legislated rather than enshrined in the Constitution.
Mark, who co-chaired the council, told The Australian newspaper that an Indigenous Australians “would not countenance the substitution of what was a unanimous outpouring at Uluru.”
Mark was backed by co-chair Pat Anderson and council members, Noel Pearson and Megan Davis, who said “whatever the merits of a legislated body, it would not amount to indigenous constitutional recognition”.
“Whatever the merits of a legislated body, it would not amount to indigenous constitutional recognition”.
On the day the government handed down its annual Closing the Gap report, Aboriginal lawyer Teela Reid is also quoted in the article saying that the failure to turn around persistent Indigenous disadvantage “demonstrates the urgency for substantial law reform, and the Uluru Statement provided a realistic and modest road map to achieve this.”
To read the article, click here.
