Hewson's view: Constitutional recognition of the First Australians imperative

By John Hewson
Updated July 2 2021 - 3:06am, first published July 11 2019 - 7:00pm
Referendum commitment: A portrait of Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, wearing a booka made from kangaroo skin given to him by Noongar elders from Western Australia. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
Referendum commitment: A portrait of Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, wearing a booka made from kangaroo skin given to him by Noongar elders from Western Australia. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

This week I caught the address at the National Press Club by Ken Wyatt, Minister for Indigenous Australians, indeed, the first indigenous Australian to hold that position. In that address, he committed the Morrison government to hold a referendum on the recognition of the First Australians in our Constitution within the next three years. Such recognition should be a priority - it is a national, indeed also an international embarrassment that it wasn't done decades ago.

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