On 27 May nearly 50 years ago, the federal government held a referendum asking Australians if parts of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia that discriminated against the country’s First Peoples should be removed.
The outcome resulted in two amendments that gave the federal government the power to make laws for Indigenous people and include them in the national census.
But Aboriginal elders from the Kimberley in Western Australia say they want to ensure anniversary commemorations do not overshadow their work to ensure basic rights they have not yet been afforded.
Aboriginal resource agency the Marra Worra Worra Corporation has brought a petition from its home in remote Western Australia to Parliament House in ACT with more than 40,000 signatures protesting against the planned closures of some remote Aboriginal communities by the Barnett government, a move that was announced last year.
Dickie Bedford of the Marra Worra Worra Aboriginal Corporation told NITV News, "In six months, there was not one opportunity for genuine dialogue and finding genuine solutions. Thus far, I have no confidence in them."
"For all the problematic issues you might want to spruik out there in terms of our appalling statistics, they have the potential to double if these communities were to close."
Community closures are back on the agenda at the same time as the Prime Minister has announced a meeting with Labor and Indigenous leaders in Sydney next month on Australia's next referendum.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said it could happen on the 50th anniversary of the 1967 vote.
"The Coalition has said we think it's very important to hold it in 2017, it's a very symbolic time to do it," Mr Scullion said.
The 1967 vote was Australia's most successful referendum ever, with a 90 percent "yes" vote to alter the Constitution.
- With Andrea Booth
Share
