Throughout Australia there has been a recent push to give indigenous people recognition as the traditional land owners in the Constitution. While a referendum for the amendment to be made to the federal constitution is scheduled for May 27th 2017, many states have led the way in updating their state constitutions. Since state constitutions are simply Acts of Parliament, they do not require referendums and can be changed more easily.
Tasmania is following in the footsteps of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia in changing their state constitution. Tasmania's Premier Will Hodgman has said he is entering talks with the labour party to consider acknowledging Aborigines as Tasmania's first people. There seems to be all around support from within the Parliament. Apparently, in order for the federal constitution to be changed, the referendum requires not only a majority vote from the people but also from the states. It seems members of Parliament are hoping that by starting small within Tasmania, it will help influence the outcome during the national referendum.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-21/tasmanian-premier-considers-recognising-indigenous-people-in-st/6030760
-Isabella
Great post, Isa! Amazing to think that the government of Tasmania hasn't done this already. I wonder if any sort of reparation or compensation will be given to indigenous people as included in this bill.
ReplyDeleteThis, sadly, reminds quite a bit with the USA's unjust history with Native Americans. While I am not well-versed in the history of interactions between the Tasmanian government and aborigines, it seems that they still have a long way to come in creating a fair and just relationship. I am happy to see that they are taking an important step towards that!
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ReplyDeleteThis is really cool Isa! I wonder why it is that they are just now doing this; why the change of heart? What do the Tasmanian people feel about this. I think it will be something that's feasible if they are following the footsteps of all the other states that are changing their Constitution. In relation to the actions this will create, what kinds of things will be done as a result?
ReplyDelete-Carlos Aguilar
Bob made a great point in class the other day about what it means to own land. If we go back far enough in history, Russia doesn't really belong to Russia and Egypt doesn't really belong to Egypt because there were traditional land owners before them. I agree with the other commenters that it's important to pay attention to what concrete actions will follow this symbolic act. Will native Tasmanians be able to gain more political representation?
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