Ken Wyatt breaks ranks with Tony Abbott by calling for early referendum
|
Version 0 of 1. A bipartisan parliamentary committee and its Liberal Indigenous chairman, Ken Wyatt, have demanded the referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders be held “at or before” the next election in 2016. The statement flies in the face of recent statements by Tony Abbott, who has suggested the referendum should not be risked by rushing it, and his Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, who called for the referendum to be held in 2017. As the prime minister worked to build a consensus with Indigenous leaders in Arnhem Land, Wyatt said in a statement issued in Canberra that the joint select committee on constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples met privately on Tuesday to consider feedback received on its interim report. He said the committee’s strong view, based on evidence received at the committee’s public hearings, was that the referendum should be held at or before the next federal election. “The committee has gathered evidence of public willingness for constitutional change,” Wyatt said. “Australians want to see the question they will be asked to vote on. Once properly informed, they will be ready to vote. “In the view of the committee, what is needed is a committed public education campaign towards a specified referendum date, no later than the federal election in 2016.” Abbott has spent the week hosing down expectations that the referendum would held in the first term of the Coalition government. Abbott said after extensive meetings with Indigenous leaders this week in Arnhem Land, including members from his Indigenous Advisory Council, he was hoping to have a timeframe for the referendum process soon. The exact form of the question, he suggested, could be discussed after the timeframe was produced. He rejected criticism that he had not done enough to drive the debate – which he has portrayed as a personal goal – and said he would elaborate on the government’s plans in the coming days, after his discussions. He also outlined his hopes for the referendum question on Tuesday. “It’s important to say something significant about our country which acknowledges the pivotal role of indigenous people as the First Australians and which well expresses the reality of modern Australia, is that we have an Indigenous inheritance, a British foundation, a multicultural character,” Abbott said. Wyatt’s joint parliamentary committee, which also includes Labor’s Indigenous senator Nova Peris as deputy, was established to recommend on the timing, content and wording of referendum proposals for Indigenous constitutional recognition. The committee tabled an interim report on 15 July, and plans to provide recommendations on a referendum proposal before the end of October. |