There is no reason the Morrison government cannot move to create a voice to parliament and hold a referendum for constitutional reform in its first term, Labor senator Pat Dodson has said.
“It seems to me the focus we’ve got to take as a parliament is to not keep kicking that can down the road, to face up to it and deal with it,” Dodson said.
Dodson was widely expected to be the nation’s first Indigenous cabinet minister if Labor won government but that title went to Noongar man Ken Wyatt who was sworn in as the Liberal National party’s minister for Indigenous Australians late last week.
Dodson said Labor’s defeat was “a sad blow, there’s no doubt about that”.
“To watch the election results come in, and to know we wouldn’t be in charge of the agenda going forward, particularly in terms of Indigenous affairs, that was the most difficult part of it for me.”
Dodson said his views about a voice to parliament entrenched in the constitution, and a Makarrata commission to talk about truth and treaty-making, haven’t changed.
“It’s time we stopped procrastinating over what is seen by first nations peoples as critical to the building of a new relationship, and having a say over the issues that affect them,” he said.
Dodson called for a bipartisan approach to advance the demands of the Uluru statement from the heart.
“I really do think we’ve got to put pressure on the government to get this matter done in the first term and work with Ken to achieve it, because if he can’t get it past the six or seven people on his frontbench, then the whole nation’s being held up because of their attitudes.”
“I think the Australian public are almost tired of this discussion and want to get on with it,” he said. “And I know that many first nations people just want to get on with it.”
Labor’s decision to divide the job of Indigenous affairs in two – between program delivery and the big picture issues of constitutional reform and a voice to parliament – is a “very powerful thing to do”, according to the ALP’s new spokesperson on Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney.
“The thinking around it was that quite often one person trying to do nation-building on top of social justice issues becomes too big,” Burney said. “The issues around the Uluru statement are a very high priority.”
Burney will take the lead on Closing the Gap targets like health, housing and education, while the high rate of suicide in Indigenous communities requires particular focus.
“The government has to go beyond, to solutions. It’s all very well to wring your hands and say it’s terrible but unless you’re willing to invest in early intervention, prevention and servicing families, then you’re not going to really change very much,” she said.
“The answers are out there, if we are about to talk to the right people, and listen to the right people, and trust the Aboriginal community-based organisations who are good deliverers of these programs,” she said.
Burney agreed there is hope for collaboration on Indigenous affairs with Wyatt as minister, “but I don’t like the idea that to try and reach bipartisanship it should be a race to the bottom. Bipartisanship should be about the best outcome, not just distilling to where you can agree with things.”
Wyatt said last week he intends to take “pragmatic action”.
“Our government’s priorities for Indigenous Australians are to see our children attend school and achieve the best education possible, to ensure our people – particularly the young – do not take their own lives, and to work together to establish and expand real jobs and opportunities for Indigenous Australian,” Wyatt said in a statement.
Wyatt said more work needed to be done on the model for a voice to parliament to put to a referendum, “which is why we have committed $7.3m for the comprehensive co-design of models to improve local and regional decision-making and options for constitutional recognition.”
Wyatt said that the work would “commence immediately” but would not set a timeframe for the delivery of a model or pathway to a “successful” referendum.
Dodson said the pragmatic approach was not enough.
“We’ve had years of practical reconciliation, and there have been failures of closing the gap every year,” he said.
“If we’re going to wait until the social justice factors have all been resolved, we’re never going to get to these systemic and seminal issues.
“Both can be done, and I would hope that if we really reflect on the Uluru statement, that’s what people have asked for. They’re not big things to ask.”
