Media monitoring re Indigenous Rights in the Constitution: 27 July 08
WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)
27 JULY 2008: INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN THE CONSTITUTION
Contents:
News
Radio Interviews
Opinion
NEWS:
NIT: Yunupingu calls for black rights in the constitution
http://www.nit.com.au/news/story.aspx?id=15497
24 July 08: "Former Australian of the Year Galarrwuy Yunupingu has presented Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with a petition calling for full recognition of Indigenous rights in the Australian Constitution. ... In a positive step for the local tribes in the area, Mr Rudd agreed to hatch a consultation process that dealt with recognizing Aboriginal people and their ancient culture in the constitution."
SMH: Place for Aborigines in the constitution
http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2008/07/23/1216492541163.html
24 July 08: "THE Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, told a gathering in Arnhem Land yesterday that he intended to honour an election promise to recognise the rights of Aboriginal people in the constitution. He said it was time to "give attention to detailed, sensitive consultation with indigenous communities about the most appropriate form and timing of constitutional recognition". Indigenous leaders at the Yirrkala meeting asked Mr Rudd to abandon key aspects of the federal intervention in remote Aboriginal areas, including the quarantining of welfare payments." Lindsay Murdoch
NIT: Constitutional change will be a "hard slog": Mundine
http://www.nit.com.au/breakingNews/story.aspx?id=15501
24 July 08: "Recognising Indigenous Australians in the constitution will be a "very hard slog", former ALP president Warren Mundine says. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has flagged the possibility of a referendum on the issue. Mr Mundine says formal recognition of Aboriginal people will bring the country together and consolidate Australia as a stronger nation."
Australian: Nelson supports indigenous recognition in Constitution
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24070044-601,00.html
24 July 08: "KEVIN Rudd has secured bipartisan support for the recognition of indigenous people in the preamble to the Australian Constitution. Liberal leader Brendan Nelson has today offered his full support for the move, increasing the changes of convincing a majority of Australian states to support the historic reform."
NIT: Constitutional recognition will be tricky: Abbott
http://www.nit.com.au/news/story.aspx?id=15502
24 July 08: "The Rudd government will have trouble recognising Indigenous Australians constitutionally in a way that satisfies both "radical" Aboriginal leaders and the wider community, the opposition says."
NIT: Rudd talks down referendum plans
http://www.nit.com.au/news/story.aspx?id=15505
24 July 08: "Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has talked down plans to have Indigenous people formally recognised in the constitution, saying the federal government is more focused on practical challenges and easing the cost of living. ... The prime minister said the government's main concern was closing the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people."
RADIO INTERVIEWS:
ABC AM: Constitutional change negotiations underway soon
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2008/s2314027.htm
25 July 08: "During this week's historic cabinet meeting in Arnhem Land, the Prime Minister promised to begin negotiations on changing the nation's Constitution to recognise the rights of Indigenous Australians. Now the Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, has confirmed the negotiation process is about to start. But she won't commit to a timetable for a referendum about the changes or give any idea about what she would like to see as a preferred model."
Indigenous radio station 98.9FM
Let's Talk - Australia's only Indigenous presented talkback:
http://989fm.com.au/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29
24 July 08: Tiga Bayles interviews Dennis Eggington
ABC PM: Oppn calls for 'subtle diplomacy' in Indigenous recognition
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2313772.htm
24 July 08: "MICK DODSON: Well I think it's an opportunity to put something in the preamble to the Constitution that is in a sense a recognition, acknowledgement, statement that platforms the relationship between Indigenous Australia and the rest of Australia. I'd also like to see changes in the body of the Constitution as well, the actual, you know, legal part of the Constitution if you like that needs to take the recognition acknowledgement beyond words in the preamble."
OPINION:
SMH: Editorial: Not another Sorry debate
25 July 08: "FRESH from its triumph at the opening of Parliament with an apology to the Stolen Generations, the Rudd Government looks to be casting around for new fields of indigenous public relations to conquer. The latest suggestion is an addendum to the constitution recognising the rights of the first Australians. The Government will be hoping to repeat its Sorry triumph: a relatively cheap piece of grandstanding with no material effect. If so, let's hope the whole meaningless business does not - as the empty Sorry debate did for more than a decade - divert attention from the genuinely important tasks that face this country in indigenous affairs."
Australian: PM seizes vision of social renaissance
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24068143-21147,00.html
24 July 08: "WITH consummate skill and elegance, the two partners in Australia's utopian future played their parts in Yirrkala yesterday. Kevin Rudd, the fresh inspirer of an idealistic nation, came face to face, on Aboriginal land, in the very cradle of the land rights movement, with Galarrwuy Yunupingu, the veteran of the indigenous cause, the feudal leader of North-East Arnhem Land." Nicolas Rothwell
- - -
Subscription to 'WGAR News' is free.
'WGAR News' monitors the media, focusing on the Northern Territory intervention along with other aboriginal issues. The newsletters include media releases, opinion pieces and news items.
To subscribe, email wgar.news@gmail.com and include the words "subscribe WGAR News" in the message header.
- - -
You can also subscribe to our second list 'Contact WGAR' which focuses on activities and events and provides a point of contact.
To subscribe, email contactwgar@gmail.com and include the words "subscribe WGAR Contact" in the message header.
- - -
WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)
Post new comment