constitutional recognition it's something a lot of indigenous people in
Australia have been campaigning for, for a really long time. But what
exactly is it and why is it such a big deal. Let's start with that first word: Constitutional
this is Australia's Constitution. No, I'm just kidding it's
not that big. It's more like this. It's kind of like our nations rule book
It sets out how laws are made and enforced
although ours is not as popular or as
famous as the one they've got over in the United States
which they like to talk about all of the time
You think the language in the second amendment is clear enough?
you know, about the right to bear arms
of course it's clear every
American has the right to hang a pair of bear arms on their wall how could that
possibly be misconstrued
in fact most Aussies don't even know what's in our constitution
or that it even exists
I mean I don't really blame them the
Australian Constitution was written more than a century ago
although it was the
first time in the world a country's constitution was decided by a vote which
is pretty cool if you're into that sort of thing
however when it was written
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people weren't mentioned at all
despite the fact that they'd been living here for more than 50,000 years and that's
something that hasn't sat right with a lot of people for a long time
so now that we know about that first word let's find out about the second one
recognition
and we probably don't need this anymore
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want to be recognised in the
Constitution as Australia's first peoples
it's something a lot of people
agree with
and it's been put forward a number of times by PM's in the past
organisations like Reconciliation Australia reckon widespread acceptance
of our nation's history is an important step towards making sure we don't repeat
the wrongs of the past
not everyone's on board with the idea though
some people don't like changing the Constitution at all
others reckon it'll cost way too
much money and some reckon that it won't change the past
or the lives of indigenous Aussies today
that last point is actually an
argument that's being used by some people on both sides of the debate
many people who support constitutional recognition also want to add a new part
to the Constitution that would make a special group in federal parliament to
give indigenous people a louder voice in their future
this group would advise the
government on any laws or policies that affect indigenous people
The Liberal Party's minister for Indigenous Affairs, Ken Wyatt, is one of the people pushing for
that change right now
back in 2017 a survey showed that most Aussies
support this idea
but the specifics of how much power that group would have is
a bit more controversial
this idea was dismissed by our previous PM Malcolm Turnbull
the last time it was brought up
there were worries that the group would
become too powerful and be seen as a third chamber of parliament
but Mr Wyatt has rubbished that idea and says it's misleading
similar Indigenous advisory groups have been set up in the past
but supporters of this new change
say those groups hadn't received the support that they needed and that by
adding this new group to the Constitution
it would guarantee an
Indigenous voices is present
and can't easily be cast aside
so how would we
actually go about changing the constitution to add these new sections in
it's not as easy as changing shirts
wait, this is too much
that's better
you have to have a referendum
that's a big and expensive national vote
that can cost millions and millions of dollars
to get changed passed more than
half of the Australian population and more than half of the states and
territories have to vote yes to the changes
which is a lot harder than it sounds
the majority of referendums we've had have failed
in fact, only 8 out of 44 have been successful
former Aussie PM Sir Robert Menzies said passing a referendum was as tough
as one of the labors of Hercules
which is probably a bit overdramatic from Bob
I mean, I'd much rather campaign for a yes vote than fight a giant lion-monster
That doesn't mean a referendum for constitutional change will fail
The most successful referendum of all time was actually
to do with Indigenous Australians as well
the 1967 vote which among other things
was about making sure Indigenous Australians were counted in the census
it scored an impressive 90 percent yes vote
right now pollies are saying it
will probably go to vote in the next three years
so we'll just have to wait and see