Senator Cory Bernardi warns 'divisive' Indigenous constitutional referendum 'doomed to fail'

Updated

A small but powerful conservative strand within the Federal Government is actively speaking out against a referendum to recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has committed to holding the referendum vote and said he favoured May 2017, the anniversary of the successful 1967 referendum.

South Australian Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, a self-described constitutional conservative, said while millions of dollars had been spent promoting the referendum, there was still no detail about the question voters would have to consider.

"Anything that seeks to divide our country by race, and every proposal that I've heard of seeks to do exactly that, I think is doomed to fail," he told AM.

The advocacy group for constitutional change Recognise released a poll this week which suggested there was the double majority of state and national support for constitutional change.

Recognise joint campaign director Tanya Hosch said the poll showed "overwhelming support" with 75 per cent of respondents across the country in favour of change.

If I think the consequences of what's put forward are going to be bad for Australia, if they are going to divide Australians and categorise us by race, I would be absolutely campaigning for the 'No' vote. Senator Cory Bernardi

But Senator Bernardi said those results should be taken with a "grain of salt" because a specific question had not yet been formulated.

"I'm suspicious of polls, and particularly advocacy polling, because when you don't know the details it's easy to say, 'Yes, I agree, in sentiment'," he said.

"But when the details and the consequences are put in front of you, I think most people are conservative and say, 'Do I really want to go down that path?'"

He said the issue was not a key priority within the Coalition.

"Virtually no-one is talking about this. Like most of Australia, this is a fifth-order issue at best," he said.

"I think it is something that has the potential to really divide Australians and I don't see that there's much merit spending time speaking about it until they actually put forward a proposal.

"And then we can have a credible discussion about the consequences of what they put forward."

Senator Bernardi said he would consider advocating for the 'No' campaign against recognition.

"If I think the consequences of what's put forward are going to be bad for Australia, if they are going to divide Australians and categorise us by race, I would be absolutely campaigning for the 'No' vote," he said.

He said Mr Abbott had previously committed to provide funding for both sides of any referendum debate.

"The Prime Minister himself, when he was leader of the opposition, said that there should be always equal funding in constitutional referenda for both sides of the campaign, and I would ask him to stand by that."

Delays could see referendum 'fall from public consciousness'

Attorney-General George Brandis has been in Broome attending a meeting of 50 key Indigenous leaders and said there was enormous goodwill and support across the country for recognition.

"Now this has been a long debate," he said.

"It's been marinating in public opinion at least two years now but that's not a bad thing, it's a good thing that the public know that the Government and the stakeholders – Indigenous leaders – are not racing headlong into wanton change to the constitution."

If we don't hurry up and move on ... we'll get caught in a state of drift where nothing will happen and the whole thing will fall from the public consciousness. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda

Senator Brandis was speaking before Senator Bernardi made his position public, but the Attorney-General acknowledged there were differing opinions in the community about making the change.

"I think there is enormous goodwill across the Australian community for the appropriate recognition of our first Australians in the constitution," he said.

"I think that's a very widespread community sentiment.

"But of course there is also, quite appropriately, a natural scepticism by the Australian people when it comes to amending the constitution."

Senator Brandis pointed out that it had been almost four decades since the last successful referendum.

"So we have to address the scepticism. People who remain to be convinced, people with a more conservative view, are just as entitled to have their views respected as everybody else in the debate," he said.

"We need to bring people with us. We need to bring people with us through long and slow and careful deliberation, and reasoned and decent debate, and that's what this is all about."

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda said he had been concerned for many months about the consequences of a lack of progress.

"What we need urgently to happen is that this thing starts moving about engagement with the Aboriginal leaders at the top level of government and the Opposition," he told the 7.30 program last night.

"If we don't hurry up and move on ... we'll get caught in a state of drift where nothing will happen and the whole thing will fall from the public consciousness.

"I don't think we can allow that to happen with the amount of effort that's gone in over the last five or six years."

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has been pushing for a bipartisan meeting with Mr Abbott and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives to discuss the best way to progress towards a vote.

Senator Brandis said the Prime Minister would convene the meeting before the end of June.

A parliamentary committee report on the best way to hold a successful referendum is also expected by the end of next month.

Topics: community-and-society, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, indigenous-other-peoples, government-and-politics, federal-government, australia

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