Lawmakers Call for Recognition of Indigenous Australians

Lawmakers in Australia will propose a report Thursday to the parliament that would aim at ending discriminatory policies against indigenous people that still exist in the country's constitution.

A bipartisan committee was formed in order to examine different reforms to be introduced as part of a future referendum on the country's constitution.

The committee's report will recommend that a clause mentioning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders should be inserted into Australia’s founding document, and another that discriminates on the basis of race be removed.

The report will also recommend that a provision in the constitution that allows the state to disqualify people of a particular race from voting at state elections be struck down.

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Some community leaders attempted to sabotage the bipartisan proposals. Aboriginal lawyer Noel Pearson, known for not representing Aboriginal interests, said in April that many conservative lawmakers did not support the recognition of the indigenous communities, and thus the recognition should only be a “symbolic” one.

However, his calls were dismissed as “mudding the waters” on the bipartisan issue by conservative leaders and unanimously rejected by the cross-parliamentary committee.

The report will also recommend a full day of parliament be devoted to debating the referendum, so that most parliamentarians have the chance to express their views and concerns.

The debate would proceed “with a view to achieving near-unanimous support for, and build momentum towards, a referendum to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”, the report said.

The report on the referendum will be proposed by Australia’s first indigenous member of the House of Representatives, Ken Wyatt.

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