NSW North Coast helps lead the way on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, January 2012

Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

North Coast residents Alison Page, Janelle Saffin (Federal Labor MP) and Rob Oakeshott (Federal Independent MP) were members of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples which produced the historic report.

JENNY MACKLIN MP

Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

Minister for Disability Reform

Handover of the report of the Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

19 January 2012

Thank you Aunty Matilda. I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to their Elders, past and present.

Welcome to you all here today.

I acknowledge:

·         Prime Minister Julia Gillard,

·         Ron Radford [Director of the National Gallery of Australia],

·         Parliamentary colleagues, including Senator Rachel Seiwert and Rob Oakeshott, and

·         Members of the Expert Panel, including Co-Chairs Mark Leibler and Pat Dodson who I will introduce shortly.

I’d also like to acknowledge the young freedom riders who are with us today -- it is wonderful to see so many young faces that will be part of the journey of change that has begun.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people hold a very special place in our nation – as custodians of the oldest continuing cultures in the world, and of our land, and for their contributions to our nation, both past and present.

And yet our nation’s Constitution – the foundation document for our laws and our government – is silent on this legacy, is silent on this ongoing contribution to our shared nation. 

Four years ago, when the Parliament of Australia said sorry for past injustices and when Australians right around the country gathered in public spaces, in schools in workplaces and in front of our Parliament itself, we ended the silence in our nation.

We reflected on the past, so that we could look to the future.

The strength we drew as a nation from coming together to say sorry helped build a relationship that renewed our determination to work together to close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage.

A relationship based on mutual respect and on mutual responsibility.

The responsibility we all bear – governments, Aboriginal people and and Torres Strait Islanders, all Australians – to close the gap.

And the respect with which we undertake this task, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their special place in our nation.

But the silence remains in our nation’s founding document, our Constitution. Ending this silence – as we ended the silence as part of the apology – is a mark of respect. It allows us to continue to build stronger relationships.

While today marks an important step towards recognition, the work hasn’t just started today.

We know that this is something that many Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, have debated for a long time.

A year ago, we started the formal process, when we set up an Expert Panel of Indigenous and community leaders, constitutional experts, and parliamentary members, to advise us on how best to recognise Indigenous Australians in our Constitution.

In the past year, the Panel has talked to more than 4,600 people, in more than 250 meetings in 84 locations across the country. And received more than 3,500 submissions.

Each of these, a conversation about ending the silence and about looking to the future.

I congratulate the Panel, including co-chairs Mark Leibler and Professor Patrick Dodson for their dedication and tireless work over the past year. It has been a tremendous task which has helped build a strong foundation for change. 

And this report will provide the foundation for many more conversations right across the country. The work does not end here.

We know that change will not happen without the support of the majority of Australians.

It will not happen without more conversations – across kitchen tables and around barbeques, in workplaces and neighbourhoods, cities and towns in every state and territory.

And it will not happen without Australians saying yes to change, to being a part of change.

I know that the Members of the Panel, who are passionate advocates for change, will continue to be part of this important work, as we continue build understanding and support for change.

Reconciliation Australia will continue their advocacy, building practical reconciliation through this process for change.

From today, Australians can be a part of change through the You Me Unity website by clicking on the ‘Show your support for Constitutional Recognition’ button.

I encourage everyone to take this first small step to change.

The recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution will be an enduring public acknowledgement of our history and of the significant contribution that Indigenous Australians continue to make to our nation.

We have a long road ahead of us, but if we do this the right way, it can be a road to reconciliation.

Thank you.

I would now like to hand over to the Panel Co-Chairs Patrick Dodson and Mark Leibler.

The panel’s report can be found at http://www.youmeunity.org.au/

Australians trust in the national economy but remain ambivalent concerning the future

This media release of 5 January 2011 from Paris-based Ipsos Social Research Institute illustrates that Australians remain ambivalent concerning the future:

Australia confident about economy,
yet worried about cost of living

Three-quarters (74%) of Australians believe that our current economic situation is ‘very good’ or ‘somewhat good’ according to the December 2010 Ipsos-Eureka Social Research Institute’s Global Advisor study. At the same time, one-third of Australians (33%) believe that ‘inflation/cost of living’ is a top issue facing the nation, according to the December 2010 Ipsos-Eureka Issues Monitor.

The Ipsos-Eureka Global Advisor report for December 2010, which draws on a global Ipsos study conducted monthly in 24 countries since April 2007, asks survey participants to rate their own country’s economic situation on a scale of ‘very good’ to ‘very bad’. In December 2010, 74% of Australians rated our economic situation as ‘very good’ or ‘somewhat good’.

Australia’s most recent result compares favourably to the balance of nations surveyed, ranking equal fourth (China also scored 74%) behind India (88%), Saudi Arabia (81%) and Sweden (75%). Japan was least confident, with 6% reporting their economic situation was ‘very good’ or ‘somewhat good’.

The lowest Australia has performed on the confidence scale is 36% (April 2009). However scores have been consistently above 70% for each month in 2010. Established economies, notably the USA and Great Britain, have not recovered so well; with 20% (USA) and 16% (Great Britain) of people in these countries responding that their current economic situation was ‘very good’ or ‘somewhat good’ for the latest survey.

“These most recent Global Advisor results show that Australians continue to be confident in our post GFC economy, while countries like the USA and Great Britain are yet to recover. We are right at the very top among developed countries, and not far behind the leading emerging economies, particularly India and China,” said Ben Barnes, Managing Director of the Ipsos-Eureka Social Research Institute.

“The results also indicate that Australians are able to acknowledge confidence in the nation’s economy even while things may be getting tougher at a personal level. Confidence in Australia’s economy has been consistently above 70% for the past 12 months. In that time, however, we have seen the cash interest rate rise from 3.5% to 4.75%, growing disharmony about fair and equitable banking practices and a federal and Victorian state election where ‘cost of living’ was a major discussion point. Indeed, we have found that one-third of Australians (33%) believe that ‘inflation/cost of living’ is a top issue facing the nation.”

“The insight is that we, as Australians, are confident that the country is heading in the right direction, but have some worries about our own futures within that economy,” said Mr Barnes.

About Ipsos

Ipsos is one of the world's leading survey-based marketing research firms. Founded and run by market research professionals, Ipsos interprets, simulates, and anticipates the needs and reactions of consumers, customers and citizens – locally, nationally and around the world. Ipsos has a direct presence in more than 65 countries globally and conducts research in more than 100.

The Baltimore Sun 19 January 2012:

The world economy will lose momentum in 2012 but it will keep moving in the right direction, according to Reuters polls of around 600 economists who said crisis-hit Europe would drag on global growth…..

Backed by a mining boom, Australia's resource rich economy should lead the developed world in terms of growth, with a hearty 3.4 percent expansion this year.
"The mining investment boom is largely 'baked in' and is expected to contribute two-thirds of GDP growth in 2012," said Paul Bloxham, chief economist at HSBC Bank Australia.



Harold gets hot and cross over supermarket greed

From The Daily Examiner letters to the editor column on 18 January 2011:

Hot-cross greed

NOT only do Coles and Woolworths want to dictate from whom we buy our everyday needs - milk, petrol, meat, bakery, pharmacy, fruit and vegetables, etc., they now also want to take over the special calendar events of the year such as Easter by offering hot cross buns in January.

A treat that was always reserved for the celebration of Easter.

The only way to get the message across to these greedy corporations is through people power and by refusing to buy these items until the appropriate event is here.

HAROLD WARWICK

Grafton

* Bunny drawing found here http://bit.ly/wmPrsP

Quote of the Week - Censure

From the pen of Ben Pobjie writing for The Drum on 18 January 2012:

Firstly, 2012 will be a big year for censure motions. Tony Abbott, plucky little clam that he is, showed his skill for censure motions last year, living up to the liberal ideal that a democracy cannot function without a strong, effective opposition to make pointless gestures. And this year will continue and intensify this trend, with Abbott promising an innovative censure-heavy schedule, with censure motions planned not just for times that Parliament is sitting, but also in government press conferences, state visits from foreign dignitaries, and if possible, while the Prime Minister is in the shower. Abbott's pledge to the Australian people is simply this: wherever there is injustice, waste, or a camera, there will he be also, popping around corners or out of bushes to move a censure motion.

Wentworth Group calls revised Murray-Darling Basin Plan 'disgraceful'

The Draft Murray-Darling Basin Plan should be withdrawn because it does not provide the information required to make an informed decision on the future of the river system.

(Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, STATEMENT ON THE 2011 DRAFT MURRAY-DARLING BASIN PLAN, January 2012) 

The science used to establish the evidence for the 2,750 GL reduction is not only absent from the documentation, but even more disgraceful is that the science for the 2,750 GL reduction is not accorded the scientific scrutiny of transparent independent review.

It is impossible to assess the ecological outcomes from a reduction to extractions of 2,750 GL from the information in these tables. Subsequently it is impossible to assess the ecological implications for Ramsar sites, wetlands listed on the Directory of Important Wetlands of Australia as well as Commonwealth, State or Territory listed threatened species and/or ecological communities. Without the information to assess this, it is impossible to determine whether the draft Basin Plan complies with the Water Act.

There has been a significant investment of tax-payers money in the science of water management - both within the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and other institutions such as CSIRO, the e-Water CRC and the Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre. This scientific effort is more than sufficient to produce a high quality plan.

The Authority has either refused to take this information into account in setting the reduction targets or has chosen not to publish these results. If a commercial operation tried this sort of trick on the community in an Environmental Impact Statement it would be thrown out well before it saw the light of day.

In the absence of this critical information on the volumes of water needed to restore the health of the basin, it is impossible for the community, science or Parliament to understand its implications or have confidence it has any prospect of delivering a healthy working river.

The Australian community and our Parliamentary representatives have a right to this information and this statutory Authority has a responsibility to use this science when it develops a plan for restoring the long- term health of the Murray-Darling Basin. (STATEMENT ON THE 2011 DRAFT MURRAY-DARLING BASIN PLAN, page10)