When are we going to have that aborigine referendum?

Hi there,

What would a referendum achieve? Kevin Rudd said 'sorry' and what did that achieve?

Will it give the aboriginals better housing, better education, more food on the table? An incentive to work? I don't think so. Many come to the city and cannot find work - I feel very sorry for them.

No Government seems to be able to help the aboriginals as a race and that is after millions are pumped into organisations designed and created to do just that. Where has all the money gone?

If we criticise them for being lazy then we are called racist and there are MANY fine aboriginals worthy of respect and admiration but there is also an element that want handouts and do nothing for it.

The Aboriginal PROBLEM has been put into the 'too hard' basket by allgovernments and they just keep throwing money at it and hope it will go away. I think it is up to the aboriginal people themselves to work out what they have to change to improve their conditions and I think part of it is a new mindset that will drive change.

An Aboriginal Referendum is a waste of time and in 12 months time Gillard and her cohorts will be but a memory we will quickly want to forget.

regards Mike D

081112

What referendum are you referring to? I'm not sure what you mean. We held a referendum that acknowledged that Aboriginals were full citizens of this country and could vote etc, way back in the 1960s.

There has been a move to re-write the beginning of our constitution, or insert a preamble to it, acknowledging Aboriginal people as the first inhabitants of this country. I think this may be what you mean. But as far as I know, there are no moves to hold a referendum on this topic as yet. Referenda have a history of failing in this country, so I don't imagine anyone would be in a hurry to hold one.

The Australian Constitution was written at a time when the idea of Terra Nullius existed. This has now been rejected completely by the High Court with the Mabo case. The Constitution does not mention the Aboriginal people of Australia as having existed before Europeans arrived. The suggestion is that the preamble to the Constitution be changed to recognise that Aborigines were here first. The rest of the Constitution is unaffected.

It will happen eventually but for a referendum to pass it must have complete support by both the major parties. No referendum has passed in Australia that did not have bipartisan support. While the abominable no-man leads the Libs, there will never be bipartisan agreement on anything so there is no point in trying. Should the Liberal Party reinstall Turnbull or elect another less divisive person as the leader, then anything is possible.

What Aborigine referendum?

A referendum on Aboriginals? I'll drink to that

It's been postponed to after 2013 to build awareness.

I rarely watch the news and even I know that.