Preamble should be dumped: Dodson
Source: AAP | Published: Thursday August 12 8:39:10 AM
Former reconciliation council chairman Pat Dodson today called for the
preamble to be dumped from the
November referendum, describing the compromise preamble agreed between
the prime minister and Australian
Democrats as a farce.
The compromise has also been rejected by other influential indigenous
leaders including Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Commission chair Gatjil Djerrkura and Kimberley Land
Council head Peter Yu.
"I would prefer nothing, this is an absolute farce this preamble,"
Dodson told ABC radio.
"We ought to take it off the agenda and leave it alone, it does nothing
and it contributes nothing to enhance the
position of indigenous people."
Dodson said Australian Democrats reconciliation spokesman Aden Ridgeway,
who negotiated the new wording,
needed to learn what customary law was all about.
Ridgeway proposed a reference to Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders'
deep kinship with their lands rather than
custodianship as many indigenous people wanted.
"Aboriginal people are owners of this country and if you want to put
anything in there put the fact down that we
own Australia and that ought to be reflected in any preamble or any
constitutional reality."
He said the prime minister's consultation on the preamble should go
beyond Ridgeway to the rest of the
indigenous community.
"We are being treated with absolute contempt, we are being denied any
real rights and real say over this matter," he said.
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