PM must 'make peace with Aborigines'
Posted
In an address to the Sydney Institute this afternoon, John Howard said he had changed his attitude towards reconciliation. (AAP: Tracey Nearmy)
A reconciliation advocacy group says the Prime Minister cannot expect Aboriginal people to accept his proposal to recognise them in the constitution unless he is prepared to make a national apology for past injustices.
Prime Minister John Howard says he has changed his view about Indigenous reconciliation, and now believes there should be a referendum to have a preamble in the constitution recognising Indigenous people's special place in the nation.
Mr Howard has delivered a speech setting out his new position and promising that if he wins the election he would bring in a bill to include the preamble statement within 100 days.
But Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) national director Gary Highland says Mr Howard will need to make peace with Aborigines first.
Mr Highland says the success of a constitutional referendum will hinge on the wording of the document and the process through which the words are chosen.
"He will need to make his own peace with Aboriginal people and their leaders if he's to make peace on behalf of the nation," he said.
"This will have to be a carefully considered approach.
"It will have to be genuinely negotiated with but until we see the process and until we see the specific words that are being proposed its too early to tell whether this will be a positive step that the Prime Minister would hope it is."
Mr Howard says he hopes there would be a strong "yes" vote for the referendum and believes there is a positive mood for it in Australia.
"I sense a change in attitudes and there's been a change in attitude on my part, I guess," he said.
"There was a stage where I didn't think the symbolic part of it mattered at all, where I thought the only thing that mattered was the practical side of reconciliation.
"I think the practical side of reconciliation is very, very important but I do recognise that the symbolic part of it is very important."
He says if he wins the election he will immediately talk to Indigenous leaders and others about an appropriate preamble.
Old and recent injustices
Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett says he is surprised by what appears to be a dramatic change in Mr Howard's attitude to symbolic reconciliation.
"He has, with his mantra about practical reconciliation, actually undermined real genuine effective reconciliation, because of his refusal to accept the importance of acknowledgment of past wrongs," he said.
"So I'm surprised, but I'm pleasantly surprised. It's not the be all and end all. We still have to fix up some of the other damage that Mr Howard has done."
Mr Howard says he still does not believe the Government should apologise for past injustices.
A constitutional law expert from the University of New South Wales, Professor George Williams, says there would need to be broad consultation to ensure the wording of a referendum would appeal to all Australians.
"Australians, of course, have a real tendency of voting no in a referendum," he said.
"The last time we voted yes in any referendum was in 1977.
"One of the key reasons we vote no is because politicians tend to put proposals without proper consultation and this is both sides of politics that have got it wrong.
"I think the starting point has got to be to involve as broad a group of people as possible."
Professor Williams says the 1999 republic referendum, which also included a vote on recognising Aboriginal people and their connection to the land, failed because the community did not support it.
"I think the real test here is can John Howard come up with the wording that's generous enough to have the support of a broad group of Aboriginal people?" he said.
"Because if he doesn't, I think it will be hard for other people to vote for it and even if they do, you couldn't really say it's about reconciliation if Aboriginal people don't support a change to recognise them."
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