POL10001: Indigenous Recognition and the Australian Constitution

This essay explores the constitutional barriers to recognizing Australian aboriginals, highlighting the historical context of racism and discrimination enshrined within the Australian Constitution since its inception in 1901. It discusses how constitutional provisions, such as section 25, perpetuate racial inequality by allowing for the restriction of electoral rights based on race. The essay also examines the role of political parties in maintaining discriminatory practices and the social impacts of a biased education system that neglects Indigenous history. Furthermore, it analyzes the concept of white supremacy and its influence on the political and social marginalization of aboriginals, arguing that despite efforts to promote equality, constitutional amendments are necessary to fully integrate Indigenous Australians into mainstream society. Desklib provides students with access to this essay and other resources for further research.

Running Head: THE AUSTRALIAN CONSTITUTION ON INDIGENOUS RECOGNITION
THE AUSTRALIAN CONSTITUTION ON INDIGENOUS RECOGNITION
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

1THE AUSTRALIAN CONSTITUTION ON INDIGENOUS RECOGNITION
Introduction
Natives and racism have long drawn conflict since the birth of modern Australia. In order
to establish the white supremacy the European settlers are vehemently isolated the native
inhabitants in Australia. In fact, Australia became predominantly a prerogative for the Europeans
which excluded the right of the aboriginals (McAllister et al. 2016). The Constitutional
manifestation and the government policies further strengthened the practice of discrimination
and facilitated it to become official. In this regards, Constitution played the pivotal role in
declaring racism virtually an official purpose of the government. The issue of aboriginals and
Torres Strait Islanders added a new complexion on that matter. Therefore, the purpose of this
research is to figure out the influence of the Constitution for inciting the people in performing
racism and identify the barriers regarding the recognition of the aboriginals (Habermas 2018). In
this regards, the principle question of this essay is that what are the constitutional barriers
responsible for recognizing the Australian aboriginals?
Discussion
For conducting a successful research, the essay is going to illustrate a number of risk
factors that are enabling and escalating the exercise of racism across the Australian state.
Constitution
According to the Australian Constitution, the aboriginals have little rights and less
freedom in relation to the state craft. While looking to the retrospective of the issue, it can be
argued that since the implementation of the new constitution in 1901, the authority never
mentioned anything about the aboriginals of the country (Taylor 2018). The same notes have

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been vibrated in the statement of a former attorney general of Australian Court who told that it
was the agenda of the Australian political authority to shut the voice of native countrymen in
order to establish their own history. A far sighted manifestation was lingered with the adaptation
of the draft of the constitution which was succeeded to set up white supremacy in that continent
(Dreher, McCallum and Waller 2016). In fact, the repeal of the Racial Discrimination Act in
1975 further legitimized the custom of discrimination (Rudge 2015). Furthermore, even in
present times there are some notorious acts prevalent in the Australian Constitution which
prohibits the natives to get rights and recognition. For an instance, section 25 of the Australian
Constitution allows the country to restrain individuals from the electoral proceedings because of
their race (Johns and McCosker 2015). The effect of such discriminatory act can be so harmful
for the aboriginals that only recognition will not be able to eradicate racism from its roots.
According to the UN Convention on social equality it can be stated that no country or no state
can enact discriminatory policies or neither support any such practice (humanrights.gov.au.
2018). On the contrary, in Australia the constitution was entitled to continue bigotry and racism.
Despite all the efforts to retain the use of such discriminatory act there were also some initiatives
to eradicate racism. During his term as a Prime Minister in 2014 Tony Abbott was interested to
introduce the Free Speech Bill and wanted an in deep revision of the Racial Discrimination Act.
Instead of doing this he had faced immense pressure from the conservative political forum of
Australia. As a result of that he had to turn down the proposal (Brennan 2018).
Political Parties
Political parties play a pivotal role in manifesting the discourses of racism in Australia.
Most of the political leaders irrespective of their party agenda directly or indirectly give support
to the public tradition of racism. In fact, the central electoral system also follows such custom.

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Historically, in the post Second World War years Australia has witnessed a change in national
government for only seven times. The malpractice in Australian electoral proceedings has come
to an end when Tony Abbott became the Prime Minister in 2013 (Robinson 2015). The National-
Liberal coalition was effectively maximizing their votes by promising a better alternative for the
Australians. Despite of this political upside down the Abbott government was failed to change
the core perception of the Australian people regarding racism. The complexities of the Australian
electoral system also help the authority to manipulate the citizens as well. However, the
indigenous people do not have the right to participate in voting. It is because of the government
less concern about the native Australians. Perhaps it is a deliberate move by the government in
order to isolate the aboriginal citizens of Australia, so that they will never be treated the same as
the mainstream population (Baidawi 2017). In fact, the government set up an expert panel for the
recognition of the aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders (pmc.gov.au. 2018). However, no
such development has been confirmed yet. In addition to this, it can be argued that the Australian
government has no legislation to support the property rights of the native people. Therefore, all
the lands are occupied by the white people of the country where the aboriginals are the actual
owner of the lands.
Social Impacts
Society is always considered to be an influential element of the political behaviour. In
response to that, biopolitics becomes a new determinant for democratization. The civic culture is
a glimpse of the political environment of a country. In order to understand this, a clear image of
the Australian society has to be identified. The essence of racism and discrimination is bestowed
in the society itself (McCallum, Waller and Dreher 2016). The government policies and the
constitutional justifications further facilitated the process of discrimination. The educational

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policy and system support it. In Australia, the fundamental learning text book never mention any
historical event of the long past. In other words, it can be defined as the Australian kids have no
knowledge about their native pasts and the reason behind this absence is the political as well as
social restriction (Matamoros-Fernandez 2017). In childhood the learning medium is based on
the state based Victorian Essential Learning Standards in which the curriculum never associated
with the history of the native past of the continent (Walton et al. 2018). Therefore, since
childhood the mainstream white Australian people are remained unknown about the native parts
of their history. Furthermore, it can also be stated that participation in the Annual Day or
weaving the national flag has some sort of discriminatory values. To some extent, it can be
argued that the symbolic provocation of making a racial ideology remains in the practice of
Annual Day celebration which reflects the victory of the European settlers over aboriginals
(Walter 2016). Moreover, there is also a correlation between colonisation and the infamous
theory of white supremacy which also supported the idea of racism.
In addition to this, biopolitics plays a very significant role in segregating the aboriginals
from the white population in Australia. In this continent, the native population is comprised of
only 2.8%. Despite of this nascent figure the Australian government purposefully suppresses
them (Armillei and Lobo 2017). For example, in 2007 the Australian government deployed army
in the Northern Territory based on the stereotype that the Australian aboriginals practice children
sacrifice (Lentin 2016). Furthermore, the use of biopolitics can also be seen in case of growth of
rate in abortion. According to Millar (2015) many scholarly article and government
investigations from 2002 to 2008 proved that increase in the rate of abortion among the white
population can be a fatal blow to the white population strength across the country. In response to

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that, the government initiated a cleansing mission by wiping out the non-white immigrants and
intervening in the indigenous sovereignty.
Logical argument
The prevalence of racism and inequality across the Australian continent is an example of
White Supremacy. The term White Supremacy is very much associated with political and
economic colonisation which further turns into cultural colonisation (Bonds and Inwood 2016).
In response to that, the present study is putting stress on the dominance of the European settlers
over the aboriginals of Australia. The deliberate movement of the white politicians and the
constitutional advantages make an impetus for the so called mainstream society of Australia to
create a demarcation between the whites and the natives. This was just the same connotation that
the English, Dutch and the French people were used as an effective tool to annex foreign lands.
In response to that it can be argued that white supremacy is related to the racial terminology
where the discrimination is based on skin complexion and the term is strictly putting emphasis
on the European settlers (Kukutai and Walter 2015). Therefore, the idea of white supremacy is
very much related to the cultural, political and social domination on the non-white groups. The
main argument of this theory is that white people are entitled to rule the world and the non-white
communities are born to be dominated.
In response to that the essay is addressing the relation between the aboriginals of
Australia and exploitation generated by the European- Australians upon them. In this context, it
is very imperative to understand the role of constitution in legitimizing the racial activities of the
Australian authority as well as the society. From the inception of its independence, the
Constitution of Australia is very much dedicated in establishing the dominance of the Europeans

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over the native Australians. Therefore, in the draft of the constitution the members of the draft
committee intentionally remained silent on the question of natives. Subsequently, the political
discourses made it more justified that in 1975 the government had repeal the Racial
Discrimination Act in order to legalise the practise of racism (Dudgeon et al. 2016). Since then it
becomes a tradition to isolate the aboriginals from the mainstream society.
In response to that, there is the UN Convention of Protection of Racial Discrimination
which strongly opposes any kind of inequality in the society (humanrights.gov.au 2018). The
Australian government and the constitution are very much aware of the fact and eventually made
it their official standpoint. However, in reality the idea of discrimination is being very much
incorporated in the community and social life that it creates a moral gap between the so called
modern Australians and the aboriginals. In fact, the very structure of the Australian democracy
lies under the influence of discrimination because of its constitutional justification.
In this regards, a natural and relevant question comes into mind about the constitutional
amendments. The constitution of Australia is so conservative and static that since 1901 there are
only nine times the constitution has been amended successfully. Sub sections like section 25
legitimize the action of the government and the constitution by disqualifying the voting rights of
the individuals based on race (Paradies 2016). Such an aggressive step taken by the constitution
cannot be overthrown in a single day. In addition to this, the social barriers and the popular
mindset also intensify the situation. The popular response in this regards is quiet obvious and
they have no concern about their native countrymen. Actually, the entire system is going against
the incorporation of aboriginals in to the mainstream society.

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Therefore, it can be seemed that recognition of the aboriginals can be a possible remedy
to integrate them into the mainstream social spectrum. Despite all the previous challenges it can
be possible, but the constitution has to play a big role in this matter. Nonetheless, recognition is
not the adequate way to engulf the aboriginals with the main society. The reason behind this
obstacle is the constitutional acts. Despite of recognising the aboriginals, the constitution has the
provision to prohibit them in enjoying any kind of civil liberties and freedom, moreover, there is
also an obstruction for the aboriginals to get associated with the electoral proceedings.
Conclusion
It can be argued that equality is the fundamental basis of democracy and indeed every
civilized society must have the provision to provide equal rights to all. Civilisation full of
discrimination is seemed to be a farce and based on utopian principles. Moreover, it is also
important for the constitutional structure to maintain a neutral point of view. In a democratic
evolution it should not be entertained any kind of partial manoeuvrings by the constitution that
can damage the strong edifice of democracy. Native culture is the backbone of a civilization and
conglomeration between the past and the present can be beneficial for the development of any
society. Therefore, it can be concluded that with a change in the perception of the Constitution of
Australia as well as a transformation in the mind of the political leaders will help to penetrate the
popular psyche and can usher a new world where equality will be considered as the major facet
of democracy. However, in case of Australia, there is no such constitutional framework that can
safeguard the rights f the Australian aboriginals. Hence, it requires a number of government
initiatives as well as constitutional guidance to get the natives of Australia their rights to enter
into the mainstream society.

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