Keywords: Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage
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AUSTRALIA
- Frank Brennan
- 06 May 2022
3 Comments
Whoever is Prime Minister after the election on May 21, he will need to address the question of Indigenous recognition in the Australian Constitution. This is the sixth election in a row when the question has been a live, unresolved issue during the election campaign. The patience of Indigenous leaders is understandably wearing thin. Trust is waning. There is still no clear path ahead. So where to from here?
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AUSTRALIA
- Frank Brennan
- 31 May 2017
6 Comments
Indigenous leaders this last week have called for the creation of two new legal entities. They want a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution, and a Makarrata Commission set up by legislation. The Makarrata Commission would supervise agreement making between governments and First Nations and engage in truth telling about history. The envisaged destination is a national Makarrata (or treaty). So the immediate constitutional issue is the creation of the First Nations Voice. There is no point in proceeding with a referendum on a question which fails to win the approval of Indigenous Australia. Neither is there any point in proceeding with a referendum which is unlikely to win the approval of the voting public.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 21 March 2013
1 Comment
Frank Brennan's address 'Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the Constitution' presented at the 18th National Schools Constitutional Convention, The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, 21 March 2013.
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EDUCATION
- Chris Middleton
- 07 January 2013
2 Comments
The report's argument that a base level of funding be established might lead to a lowest common denominator approach to determining what is an 'efficient' education, in both the state and private systems. Creativity, diversity and experimentation may be hindered in such a regime. Friday 24 February
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MARGARET DOOLEY AWARD
- Sarah Burnside
- 26 September 2012
5 Comments
Human beings have a bias towards a belief that the world is a fair place in which one's actions have appropriate consequences. This 'just world hypothesis' implies that those who suffer calamity must be at fault. It is the opposite of empathy and poses a serious challenge for those who seek to implement progressive social policies.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 06 July 2012
8 Comments
Most Australians would agree that it’s time to free the Constitution from all vestiges of racial discrimination. For this, it needs an amendment affirming the status as Indigenous Australians as equal citizens. But in the current political climate, a referendum is unlikely to produce the necessary super majority of electors in four of the six states voting in favour.
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EDUCATION
- Chris Middleton
- 24 February 2012
9 Comments
The report's argument that a base level of funding be established might lead to a lowest common denominator approach to determining what is an 'efficient' education, in both the state and private systems. Creativity, diversity and experimentation may be hindered in such a regime.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 30 January 2012
10 Comments
I have been feeling sad and confused about the happenings in Canberra since Australia Day. On Saturday I got on my bike and went down to the lawn of Old Parliament House. I passed a sign: 'You are now entering or leaving the Australian Aboriginal Tent Embassy ... Abusive behaviour will not be tolerated.'
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AUSTRALIA
- Myrna Tonkinson
- 08 July 2009
2 Comments
The focus on the sensational when discussing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health tends to obscure
some positives. Many families are dealing with problems of abuse and neglect
with remarkable success.
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AUSTRALIA
- Ursula Stephens
- 05 December 2007
1 Comment
Labor has adopted social inclusion as an organising
principle of the nation's social and economic policy. Social inclusion
is about recognising that economic prosperity in and of itself is not
enough: it is central to the work of government to make sure that this
prosperity leaves no-one behind.
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