If Anthony Albanese, current prime minister, is in support of and vowed to install the Indigenous Voice advisory board, why can’t he just do it? He also made a comment beforehand that he would respect people’s decision if they vote no, implying that he might be able to override it if he wanted to.
"the PM on Sunday said Labor would “respect the response of Australians next Saturday”.
“If Australians vote no, I don’t believe that it would be appropriate to then go and say, ‘Oh, well, you’ve had your say, but we’re going to legislate anyway’.”
I personally believe that what white Australians want is irrelevant to the fundamental rights that the original owners of this land deserve, and he should have just done it if he was able to.
Didn’t like the outcome hey. Fair enough.
Democracy in action. The constitution can’t change without the vote and the country voted. If he didn’t act accordingly it would be political suicide if he even made it come next election.
The constitution has special legal status in Australia. Parliament cannot alter it the way they can normal laws. The constitution can only be changed by a referendum - which is vote by the whole nation. What parliament is allowed to do (not Albo individually, but by majority vote in parliament), is make laws under the constitution. So yes, parliament could pass a law that creates a voice. But the next government could then pass a law that cancels the voice. And so on. The idea of putting in the constitution was so that it would have more staying power. If it was in the constitution it could still be removed, but only by another referendum, because as per point A, constitution can only be changed by a referendum.
If you look at the history of Indigenous policy you’ll see that many versions of advisory bodies have been legislated only to eventually be removed. Plus the symbolic value of constitutional recognition can’t be understated. A tokenistic gesture, sure, but Australia is still the last settler colonial nation in the global north to recognise their First Peoples. For the sake of just the basic values of a modern nation we should at the very least recognise the people who were here first in our constitution.
Aren’t y’all in the southern hemisphere?
Global North/South is a socio-economic and political grouping.
Developed countries = global north
Developing = global southIt does originate in geography, as the vast majority of wealth and high-tech industry is in the geographic North, but countries like Aus and NZ also fit, despite being South of the equator.
Ah. Thank you!
it’s a silly way of saying undeveloped versus developed. in itself it is a misnomer as Australia still has a backwards, absurdly outdated, colonialist constitution. we’re not a developed, or ‘first world’ state, democratically anyway…
