Indigenous Peoples and Constitutional Reform in Australia: Beyond Mere Recognition

The book examines whether Australia's constitution should be reformed to enable the country to fulfil its obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which it ratified in 2009. It argues that the term 'Indigenous constitutional recognition' misrepresents the nature of the project the country needs to engage in and proposes a comprehensive constitutional reform programme, including the text of constitutional amendments designed to achieve the realisation of the rights of Australia's Indigenous peoples. It ends with a call to improve the standard of civics education to overcome voter apprehension towards constitutional change.

Format: Hardback
Length: 298 pages
Publication date: 02 December 2023
Publisher: Springer Verlag, Singapore

This book examines whether Australia's constitution should be reformed to enable the country to fulfil its obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which it ratified in 2009. The book surveys the history of the constitutional status of Australia's Indigenous peoples from colonisation to the current debate on 'Indigenous constitutional recognition'. However, it argues that the term 'Indigenous constitutional recognition' misrepresents the nature of the project the country needs to engage in. The book argues that Australia should instead embark upon a reform programme directed towards substantive, and not merely symbolic, constitutional change. It argues that only by the inclusion in the constitution of enforceable constitutional rights can the power imbalance between Indigenous Australians and the rest of society be addressed. Taking a comparative approach and drawing upon the experience of other jurisdictions, the book proposes a comprehensive constitutional reform programme, and includes the text of constitutional amendments designed to achieve the realisation of the rights of Australia's Indigenous peoples. It ends with a call to improve the standard of civics education so as to overcome voter apprehension towards constitutional change.

Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789819971206
Edition number: 1st ed. 2024