Greens urge Malcolm Turnbull to consider treaty with Indigenous people alongside constitutional recognition push


The Greens have written an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for consideration of a treaty process alongside the push for Indigenous recognition in the constitution.

The party's Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Rachel Siewert has released a letter she has written to Malcolm Turnbull setting out the Greens' position.

She maintains that increasingly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people are calling for a treaty or multiple treaties with different Indigenous nations within Australia.

"It's the unfinished business around sovereignty never being ceded," Senator Siewert said.

"Until it's dealt with we aren't going to see the gap close in a meaningful way."

The Federal Government and Opposition have provided bipartisan support for recognising Indigenous Australians in the constitution.

A referendum requires a high bar of support from the majority of Australians and the majority of states.

A question for voters has not yet been devised and a council of Indigenous representatives is consulting across the country on the next step towards the poll.

A treaty would be a separate formal agreement between the Government and Indigenous people with legal outcomes.

The Canadian, the US and New Zealand governments have signed treaties with their Indigenous communities.

"The Australian Greens believe that constitutional recognition should not be purely symbolic and must be supported by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples," Senator Siewert wrote in the letter to the Prime Minister.

"We support treaties which recognise prior occupation and the sovereignty, and the sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples."

On Monday, Queensland Indigenous artist Norman Miller presented a petition to the Speaker of the House of Representatives in Canberra in support of the referendum.

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Supporters of the proposal to recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution are worried political division could sink a referendum.
The "boomerang" petition with 5,000 signatures maintains the current founding document is a "settler constitution" that is written as if "Indigenous people did not exist or were invisible".

"I want my mother to live to see this day that she will see it and know that Indigenous people truly are recognised," Mr Miller said.

Coalition MP Warren Entsch was present for the handover of the petition, and rejected suggestions the Government is not acting quickly enough to progress towards a referendum.

"I think there is overwhelming support within the broader Australian community for recognition, no question about it," Mr Enstch said.

"The debate is within the Indigenous community itself as to the wording.

"It's important that we give time to those with different views within the Indigenous community to be able to come together with a consensus."


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-09/greens-call-on-prime-minister-to-open-deba...

....more racism from the Greens

No, a treaty is a stupid idea as aborigines have nothing to offer us.

I think aquascoot actually made a bit of sense for once!

Agree!