The Struggle for Aboriginal Community Recognition in Australia Essay

This essay delves into the historical context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia, highlighting their dispossession and lack of constitutional recognition. It examines the ongoing struggle for Aboriginal rights, including demands for a First Nations Voice in parliament and reforms to address discrimination. The essay discusses the complexities of constitutional recognition, the debate over treaties, and the importance of self-determination for the community's future. It explores the impact of colonization, racial discrimination, and the role of government policies in addressing these issues. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for continued efforts to achieve meaningful recognition and equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. The paper explores the historical context, the current challenges, and the future aspirations of the Aboriginal community.

Running head: COMMUNITY RECOGNITION
Community Recognition
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1COMMUNITY RECOGNITION
Before the settlement of Europeans in Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
People were not considered deserving of the rights of humanity and they were deprived of the
citizenship of Australia. The constitution of Australia was drafted during this time. The
Aboriginal people were also not involved in the discussion where it was discussed how a new
nation will be created on their Ancestral territory (Garling 2013). These Aboriginal people were
not even mentioned when the constitution of Australia was framed. The Australian constitution
does not recognize the rights of the Aboriginal people. However the process of Aboriginal
Recognition can help the Aboriginal people to a certain extent to continue their struggle for
Aboriginal rights and self-determination. The Aboriginal community has to struggle for
employment, their educations needs are not fulfilled, they live in rural areas and their health is
not taken care of. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to face
discrimination from the Western immigrants in Australia (Short 2016).
The British invaded Australia and colonized the country and the Aboriginal and Torres
Island community never received sovereign rights in Australia. However the concept of
Aboriginal Recognition in the constitution of the country can help these indigenous Australians
in multiple of ways. However, indigenous leaders of the country do not want a mere recognition
in the constitution. They want their own and separate representative body which will help them
in their struggle of rights and self-determination. The Aboriginal and Torres Islanders
community feel that their children are continuously alienated from their families and the youths
of the community are deprived of their rights. A mere recognition in the constitution might not
help the community to obtain their sovereign rights. The Aboriginal community wants a First
Nations Voice to be established in the constitution of Australia. The members of the community
feel that their youths are endangered and they need to be protected from the discrimination from

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the immigrants of the Western nations. The Aboriginal community and the Torres Strait Islander
people demand for reforms in the Australian constitution which will empower all members of
their community (Morphy 2013). They have the firm conviction that only when they have full
control of their destiny, then only their children and the youth members of the community will
have a protected future and will flourish. The Aboriginal community demands a “voice” in the
parliament and feels that mere recognition in the Australian constitution will not be enough to
protect their rights. Hundreds of members of the community have travelled to Uluru and tried to
reach a consensus on whether they need a referendum or a constitutional recognition will be
sufficient for them to continue their struggle for sovereign rights. The Aboriginal and the Torres
Islander community have demanded a model for change. The members of the community
continued their discussion for six months and they reached the consensus that they do not want
mere acknowledgement but also they firmly want for themselves a treaty and a justice
commission. The Commonwealth country Australia is the only nation which does not have treaty
to protect the rights of Aboriginal people (Glaskin and Weiner 2013). There is the problem in the
determination of the belonging to the continuing cultures of the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander
peoples. The unstructured nature of the ‘culture’ raises the concern among the group that the
indigenous people of Australia will be given preference over the non-indigenous residents in
many legal circumstances. There has to be the recognition of these people in a symbolic
declaration, which is outside the Constitution. However, there has to be constitutionally
established body of the indigenous leaders to give an opinion to the Parliament on the affairs of
the Indigenous people (Johnston et al., 2013). The discrimination of the non-indigenous
Australians against the indigenous people has reduced since the impact of the ‘Act of
recognition’. Indigenous Australians have not been recognized as the sovereign people or offered

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a settlement after the British had invaded and colonized their native lands. This recognition
diverts the community and the government to help these indigenous people of Australia in
substantial manners. This recognition will also create a multitude of legal complications
(Kingsley et al., 2013). The new recognition proposals with detailed substance give rise to new
oppositions. There are elementary concerns that are expressed by the opponents that are a
background for debate. This multi-party process is going through the Joint Select Committee on
Constitutional Recognition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the final report
of Review Panel. There is and a clear set of proposals to guide the path towards a successful
referendum.
The Aboriginal and the Torres Strait peoples are the first people of the Nation. The colonization
by the British has left a devastating effect on the people of the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait,
their culture and identify. The Commonwealth Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1948 have
provided the citizenship of Australia to all the Australians including the people of the Aboriginal
and the Torres Strait. Nevertheless, there has been a struggle to fight for the issue of citizenship
and attaining the basic human rights (Morphy & Smith, 2013). The colonization had resulted in
the destruction of the economic, social and the political nature of the societies of the Indigenous
people. They were marginalized and subjugated by the new colonial administrations that were
imposed. The free self-indigenous societies who could self determine were reduced to the
population who were the minorities in the colonial states. The increase in the presence of the
indigenous people has brought the promotion of the various issues of the indigenous people. This
‘act of recognition’ has brought has the indigenous people to have a sense of their history and
bring a response to the injustice that has occurred in the past and present. The issue of the ‘act of
recognition’ and the right of the self-determination is there in the drafting process. This interest

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on the indigenous people of the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait occurred from the concern of the
minority groups after the First and the Second World Wars (Patrick, 2015). The ‘act of
recognition’ brought about the effective participation of these Aboriginal and the Torres Strait
people in the larger society. As is known to all that racial discrimination is a major aspect of
concern in different parts of the world and Australia is no exception in that (Holmes, 2013). One
of the major areas of concern that has been going on around in Australia is the issues with the
Aboriginal and the people of the Torres Strait Island (Ashman et al., 2016). There have been
issue of racial discrimination and issues of social exclusion as well. The Aboriginal community
has reported incidents of racial and social discriminations everywhere, particularly in areas of
work and school and government (McKenna ,2014).
In order to avoid this issue that was being faced by these people the government started
adopting several policies (Bates, 2014). In other words, several bills were passed and one among
them of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait people recognition act of 2015. According to this people
the Government would look into this fact so that more and more people from the group of these
aboriginals are encouraged to enter into the mainstream employment, that is the Government will
try to recognize further interactions with the Aboriginal and Torres strait islander peoples and
other Australians in order to initiate further refinement of the proposal and to support the
necessary changes for successful constitutional change. But the change cannot be brought just
within the time of a single day. It is a very long term process and is complicated as well. The first
and foremost thin g that is to be done is to see that the bill is passed on right from the ground root
level in order to attain an overall and all pervasive change. Efforts are being made to abolish the
concept of racial discrimination from the minds of people and this is done by bringing in the

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aboriginals into the public fronts where they can meet or come in close contact with the other
Australians.
Conclusion
Thereby it is concluded from the essay that responsibility of the Government does not
end just be passing the bill. There remains a major work to do. This is just the beginning and
there is still much work to do and a major path left to travel. It is being expected by the
Government that by 2017, all the policies and rules of this act will be properly implemented.
Hence, it is expected that in this three years time, people can redouble their cooperation and
mutual joint efforts so that a majority amount of votes can be obtained from the Australian
Nationality and it is needless to say that this joint effort of the entire nation will perhaps turn this
aspiration into a reality.

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