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A bill that would trigger the referendum on whether to enshrine an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament has been introduced into the lower house.
Key points:
- The bill that will trigger a referendum on the Voice to Parliament has been introduced
- Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the amendment to constitution will fix a fundamental wrong
- A vote will be held between October and December this year
The bill already has the support needed for it to pass the house and later the senate.
Introducing the bill, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said it would rectify a fundamental wrong in the constitution.
"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have occupied the Australian continent for over 60,000 years and represent the oldest continuous living cultures in human history," he said.
"They have maintained a relationship with Australia's land, waters and skies time immemorial.
"Yet Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are not recognised in our constitution."
Mr Dreyfus said that until the constitution recognised First Nations people, Australia was a "nation missing its heart".
He said that, on current projections, the gaps in health, education and other life outcomes between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians would not be closed for generations, and a new approach — to "listen" — must be taken.
The legislation will enable a referendum to be held for Australians to vote on whether to enshrine a proposed Voice to Parliament into the constitution, and formally recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia.
Mr Dreyfus outlined the purpose of the Voice to Parliament, which would be a body made up of Indigenous people, represented by local Indigenous communities, which could provide advice on issues that affect Indigenous people differently.
The body would be "proactive" and would not have to wait to be asked for its views on an issue, but the parliament would also not be obliged to follow its advice.
"Nothing in the provision would hinder the ordinary functioning of our democratic system," Mr Dreyfus said.
However, he said it would provide a "critical link" between parliament, executive government and Indigenous communities.
Voice advocates have 'bare arses on the barbed wire': Anderson
Celebrating the bill's introduction shortly after, Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney remarked about opponents to the Voice, after a number of Coalition members were absent from the chamber.
"Now there will always be those that seek to hold us back. Those wreckers, they want to hold Australia back," Ms Burney said.
"We want to take Australia forward: more united, more hopeful and more reconciled than ever before."
Referendum working group member Pat Anderson said the Voice to Parliament would change the way parliament related to Indigenous communities.
"Every time there is a change of government we have to all troop to Canberra, explain who are, sometimes bring a map to show where we have come from, and explain all again why we need to maintain the funds that we have so we can provide the services that our communities and our families desperately need," Ms Anderson said.
"Me, and those after me, won't have to do that, ever again.
"There has to be a stop here, and this is it."
Ms Anderson said Voice advocates had put "their bare arses on the barbed wire", in the hopes the referendum would succeed.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who said he wasn't in the chamber when it was introduced due to a prior commitment, said he still had questions about the proposal.
"I think there are a lot of questions that are still out there that reasonable Aussies have, and that they want answered," Mr Dutton said.
"I don't understand why when we have asked the PM questions in [Question Time] this week he refuses to answer the questions."
While the referendum bill has been referred to a committee for examination, that process will run for about six weeks before it returns for debate.
The date of the referendum itself will be decided later by the Prime Minister, but it has already been flagged to be a Saturday some time this year between October and December.
Once the bill is passed, the government must hold the referendum between two and six months from its passage, meaning it would need to go through parliament by the sitting fortnight at the end of July for an October referendum.