Language Barrier in Nod For All People

THE bipartisan committee putting forward changes to the ­Constitution to acknowledge Aborigines has rejected the introduction of a section acknowledging indigenous languages as it tries to construct a proposal that will ­receive broad political support.

The committee has been considering the views of indigenous people across the country and a ­report already provided by an ­expert panel of 19 people, including Cape York leader Noel Pearson, indigenous academic Marcia Langton, father of reconciliation Pat Dodson, lawyer Mark Leibler and politicians.

That expert report suggested a new section, 127A, to provide for the “recognition of languages”. It would state that, while the national language of the commonwealth of Australia was English, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages were “the original Australian languages, a part of our national heritage”.

Sources have told The Australian the committee will not endorse the suggestion because most of its members believe it should not be included.

The committee is also unlikely to suggest the recommended ­insertion of a clause to prohibit ­racial discrimination, which Tony Abbott in opposition said might amount to a “single-issue bill of rights”.

The committee is, however, strongly of the view that the Constitution should be stripped of ­racial discrimination and is grappling with how to remove the “race power” from the nation’s guiding document while also allowing that special laws are able to be made for Aboriginal people to help Australia close the disadvantage gap.

The report produced by the ­expert panel recommended that the Constitution be altered to ­remove racist sections and create a section to legislate for the ­”advancement” of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.

The committee has not yet ­decided how to deal with this complex legal issue.

Just a month before its report is meant to be delivered to the government, the committee is also ­undecided on whether to include recognition in the preamble or the main body of the Constitution.

The expert panel recommended that recognition takes place in the body of the Constitution, rather than the approach favoured by former prime minister John Howard of doing so in the preamble.

The panel wanted it recognised that the continent and islands known as Australia were first ­occupied by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people — acknowledging the continuing relationship of indigenous people with their traditional lands; respecting the continuing cultures, languages and heritage of indigenous people and acknowledging the need to ­secure their “advancement”.

Under the expert panel’s model, a new section, 116A, would be established that would prohibit the commonwealth, states or territories from creating laws that discriminated on the grounds of race, colour or ethnic or national origin. However, the panel added that this did not preclude the making of laws or measures for the purpose of “overcoming disadvantage, ameliorating the effects of past discrimination, or protecting the cultures, languages or heritage of any group”.