Receiving the final report of the referendum council : a challenge in public law

• Published in: Australian Journal of Public Administration
• Main Author: Yeatman, Anna (R13613)
• Other Authors: Whitlam Institute (Host institution)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Richmond, Vic., Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia 2018
• Subjects: XXXXXX - Unknown; Aboriginal Australians; Torres Strait Islanders; government policy; politics and government; law and legislation; First Nations
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12361; http://handle.westernsydney.edu.au:8081/1959.7/uws:49397

The Final Report of the Referendum Council, which includes the Uluru Statement from the Heart, is a formal claim on the Australian people and its governing institutions. The claim is for a new conception of the unity of the Australian people so that for the first time historically it includes the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first sovereign nations of Australia. This is the significance of the recommendation that a First Nations Voice to Parliament be established in the Australian Constitution. This is not just a claim on the Australian constitution; it is a claim in public law that offers a new political‐constitutional horizon of intelligibility for the Australian constitution. In the current reception of the Final Report, this has not been properly understood.