Cr Damien Gallagher brought the subject of Federal politics to last week’s Murrindindi Shire Council, discussing the upcoming referendum.
“There is very little to report from a local Governance Portfolio perspective this month, but I’d like to continue the discussion on one of the great national governance matters of this generation,” Cr Gallagher said.
“It’s the referendum to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
“The constitution of Australia is our country’s governance framework and it is very intentionally understated – a concise document of about 30 pages.
“The document itself is beautifully simple, and somewhat more elegant than the constitutions of some of the community organisation committees we support as community members. “The implementation detail is provided and enacted by the Parliament, by Executive Government, and by the Judiciary.
“A referendum is the legal mechanism for change to Australia’s constitution.
“In the history of the Federation, there have been eight changes to the constitution and 36 unsuccessful attempts. “There have been 12 referenda in my lifetime and of those, three were successful – all three of those on the same Autumn day when I was about eight weeks old. My point is that constitutional change is uncommon, and so the opportunity for us to consider what ‘better’ looks like for the founding document of our Country is an incredibly rare and
valuable gift.
“For people under the age of 23, this will be their first such opportunity.
“The referendum before Australians in 2023 invites us to – quite literally – write a new chapter – Chapter IX.
“The amendment would:
n Recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia
n Establish a body to make non-binding representations to the Australian Parliament on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
“That’s it. Acknow-ledgement and a representative body.
“Council is committed to sharing material explaining the simple proposition of constitutional change to support individuals to make their own, considered decision.
“I’m exceptionally proud of the Murrindindi Shire Council organisation for advancing reconciliation with the adoption and launch of its ‘Reflect: Reconciliation Action Plan’.
“And, personally, I think that the Chapter IX change is a solid step towards national reconciliation and it supports the 86 per cent of Indigenous Australians in support of a ‘Yes’ vote (according to Reconciliation Australia).”