I have lived in this wonderful country for nearly 12 years now.
I am beyond shocked that a country occupied for possibly 40,000 GENERATIONS do not, at the VERY minimum, have a DIRECT means whereby their voices might be heard in the nations' capital.
I would have thought this was a pre-requisite to the very formation of the country itself - in its founding constitution - what an astounding oversight!
In a country that prides itself on 'a fair go' and 'mateship' ie. looking out for one another - it is a SERIOUS omission.
What that mechanism or the details of how that voice might be actioned is NOT of importance in the first instance - allowing this to be an organic and evolutionary adaptation is sensible and mature.
What is required NOW, in the first instance, is a referendum, one that I understand was promised during the previous election. Thereafter enabling legislation might follow via a consultative process.
It is crucial in this second phase that ALL First Australians are permitted agency to be selected in the process of legislation creation, in particular, that means enabling those that are most marginalised and previously unheard from and NOT just turning to the 'usual suspects'.
It is time to set things to rights and, to borrow another Australian-ism, to "do the right thing" by those who have looked after this land since time-immorial.
Sincerely
Clayton Hairs
