MSWPG7214 ASSESSMENT 1 SOCIAL ISSUE : INDIGENOUS RECOGNITION IN THE CONSTITUTION

Introduction

In the following assessment report, the discussion will be based on the most controversial political issue in Australia. Indigenous recognition in the constitution of Australia has been the most frequently discussed issue. Till date, the minority of Indigenous societies residing in Australia are struggling for their recognition in Australian constitutions to get rights to vote and to upgrade their standards of living. For Indigenous people, constitutional recognition is not easy to achieve. In order to reform the Australian constitution, it requires a referendum receiving the majority support. This report aims to study the individual and collective responses that arise from this issue. Media and different sources will be used to study how Indigenous communities are perceived in Australia. 

Discussion

Indigenous people experience widespread health inequality and social disadvantage. These aboriginal people had suffered racial discrimination and problem in accessing services such as health and employment (AIHW, 2018). Aboriginal people were initially excluded from the Australian Constitution for ‘dying race’. In fact, they were disregarded as non-existential during the European settlements. Thereof, they were clearly left unrecognized in the constitution (Australian Human Rights Commission, n,d, p.2). In the 1967 referendum, the majority of Australian voters agreed on the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the census, but it failed to recognize them as the first people to reside in Australian lands. 

Indigenous people belong to the deprived communities in Australia. They are deprived of using their basic rights to get a quality education, medical assistance, and a healthy standard of living. These Indigenous communities are exposed to racial discriminations and disqualifications from voting rights. With such circumstances, there was an immense need for the reforms in the Australian constitution. Recognizing Indigenous community in the Australian constitution can ensure a decline in racial discrimination, and can also elevate the mutual trust and respect between the Australian people and aboriginal communities. 

The first call for the Australian constitution recognition for the Indigenous Australian became significant in the 1980s. The Australian Constitution Commission of 1987 included a new preamble statement that Australia is an ancient land owned by the Aboriginal people who failed to cede its ownership. However, the Australian Constitution Commission rose against the inclusion on any new preamble statements and reforms in the existing “Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act” (Dodson, 2013).

O’Sullivan, D. (2018, Jan 18), Indigenous recognition in our Constitution matters – and will need the greater political will to achieve, The Conversation.

From this web article, it is significant that the aboriginal community strived the most to achieve recognition in the Australian constitution. However, it is studied that in order to achieve recognition, Indigenous community needed the majority support to amend the referendum. In his article, O’Sullivan (2018) discussed the struggle of Indigenous people to achieve recognition in the constitution. According to O’Sullivan (2018), the Australian constitution does not include Indigenous communities residing in Australia. The Australian constitution neither acknowledges their pre-existing aboriginal rights nor recognize their occupancy. In 2015, former Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull called the referendum council to consider the options for constitutional recognition for Indigenous communities, but it remained politically inconsequential.