Constitutional Reform

None of the recognition proposals confer any right on Aborigines to sue, nor do they impose any obligation on government to act, writes First Nations Activist, Michael Mansell.

"New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia have already recognised indigenous people in their state constitutions and the Federal Parliament passed the Act of Recognition in 2013. Not a single benefit to anyone has flowed from those measures, writes Michael Mansell, a Lawyer and First Nations Activist from Tasmania." [node:read-more:link]

First Nations people were expressly excluded from voting in federal elections until 1962, they did not have full citizenship rights and were not counted in censuses until 1967 and were classed as "flora and fauna". Conversely, between 1949 and 1973 British citizens could enter Australia without a visa, access welfare and had the right to vote. British subjects on the electoral roll before a change in legislation in 1984 still have the right to vote without being a citizen.

Reconciliation, Nationalism and the History Wars
A paper presented to the Australasian Political Studies Association Conference University of Adelaide
Dr Andrew Gunstone
Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies
Monash University
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