PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Final report Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples November 2018 CANBERRA © Commonwealth of Australia 2018 ISBN 978-1-74366-925-9 (Printed Version) ISBN 978-1-74366-926-6 (HTML Version) This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License. The details of this licence are available on the Creative Commons website: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/. Contents Foreword .......................................................................................................................................... vii Membership of the Committee ....................................................................................................... xi Resolution of appointment ............................................................................................................ xiii List of recommendations .............................................................................................................. xvii The Report 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Approach to the inquiry ....................................................................................................... 1 Conduct of the inquiry ......................................................................................................... 2 Structure of the final report ................................................................................................. 3 The Voice .................................................................................................................... 3 Other matters raised in the Statement from the Heart ........................................ 4 A note on language ............................................................................................................... 4 2 Designing a First Nations Voice ........................................................................... 7 Overview of the proposal ................................................................................................... 7 Summary of findings from the interim report: principles, models and questions ....... 9 Summary of principles taking into account evidence at the interim and final reports .......................................................................................................... 10 Further evidence on a First Nations Voice....................................................................... 10 Continued support for the concept ...................................................................... 11 Structure and membership .................................................................................... 13 Function and operation .......................................................................................... 24 iii iv Examples of advisory structures ...................................................................................... 37 Victorian Aboriginal Representative Body ......................................................... 38 Empowered Communities ..................................................................................... 41 Other proposed structures ................................................................................................. 44 Pama Futures ........................................................................................................... 44 Proposal for a Torres Strait Regional Assembly ................................................. 47 Proposal for recognising local Indigenous bodies ............................................. 50 Proposal made by the Indigenous Peoples Organisation ................................. 52 A process of co-design ........................................................................................................ 53 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples working with Government should determine the detail of a First Nations Voice ............................ 54 Suggested approaches to co-design .................................................................... 58 Evidence on previous consultation processes ..................................................... 64 Committee comment .......................................................................................................... 74 3 Providing a legal form for a First Nations Voice ............................................. 79 Why constitutionalise a First Nations Voice ................................................................... 80 A constitutional provision to enshrine a First Nations Voice ....................................... 86 Constitutional provisions dealing with local voices .......................................... 86 Constitutional provisions dealing with national voices .................................... 88 Hybrid constitutional provisions .......................................................................... 92 Themes in the drafting ........................................................................................... 94 Broad design issues to be resolved ....................................................................... 96 Conventions to finalise a constitutional provision ............................................. 99 A process to implement a First Nations Voice .............................................................. 102 Commencing with a referendum ........................................................................ 102 Commencing with legislation ............................................................................. 109 Committee comment ........................................................................................................ 115 4 Other proposals for constitutional change ..................................................... 121 Repeal of section 25 .......................................................................................................... 121 v Consideration of section 51(xxvi) .................................................................................... 124 Repealing section 51(xxvi) ................................................................................... 125 Amendment of section 51(xxvi) .......................................................................... 127 Replacement of section 51(xxvi) ......................................................................... 129 Extra-constitutional declaration of recognition ............................................................ 132 Uphold & Recognise proposal for a declaration of recognition ..................... 134 Committee comment ........................................................................................................ 136 5 Other issues raised by the Statement from the Heart ................................... 137 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 137 The concept of ‘Makarrata’ .............................................................................................. 138 Makarrata Commission ........................................................................................ 141 Agreement making ........................................................................................................... 143 State and regional agreement making ............................................................... 144 State and territory treaty processes .................................................................... 148 Committee comment ........................................................................................................ 158 6 Truth-telling ......................................................................................................... 159 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 159 The importance of truth-telling ....................................................................................... 160 Ongoing impact of past actions ....................................................................................... 162 Current truth-telling practices in local communities ...................................... 164 Mapping history ................................................................................................................ 169 Commemorations and healing ........................................................................................ 170 Suggested approaches to truth-telling ........................................................................... 171 Local, regional and national processes .............................................................. 172 Truth-telling in schools ........................................................................................ 175 A place of significance ...................................................................................................... 176 Oral history as a form of truth-telling ............................................................................ 179 Contested history .............................................................................................................. 181 Committee comment ........................................................................................................ 184 vi Additional comments - Senator Amanda