this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
952 points (96.5% liked)

World News

39102 readers
3708 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Australians have resoundingly rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in its constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues.

Saturday’s voice to parliament referendum failed, with the defeat clear shortly after polls closed.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remain hopeful. Even though a vast majority voted no to establish a body, I certainly hope that we have a government that can put something into action and that the Libs stay stuck in the weeds until they find what they stand for again.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is there currently an Australian equivalent to the BIA? If not, is a Constitutional Amendment required to establish one or can one be established by legislation?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wow. I just looked at the front page and that's actually amazing.

Short answer - no. Australia does not have such a thing, especially with that much support. We have some indigenous people in government but they represent their seat, not specifically indigenous affairs. There is currently no body that represents indigenous affairs as a whole.

It can be established by the government of the day, which it was back when Kevin Rudd was our PM (Labor Party). However, this body was then abolished by the next government, run by Tony Abbott and others since (Coalition).

Now, we have Labor in power again and this referendum was called to have a voice enshrined in our constitution so that it couldn't be abolished by future governments. Since we nationally voted no, our current Labor government can establish something like the BIA, however there is a high risk that this will be yet again abolished like last time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hmm, maybe it's because in our western states Indian tribes are a larger percentage of the population, or maybe it's because our mistreatment of the various tribes has led to countless wars and atrocities; but I couldn't imagine a scenario where one party established this branch and another removes it. But I'm not from Australia.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This is where the US is waves ahead of Australia. The indigenous population is small now (2%) but hasn't always been, and we put them (and still do) through many, many atrocities... If you're at all interested, check out indigenous deaths in custody. There's also the constant destruction of their traditional heritage (birthing trees, rock art etc.). The stereotype here for an Aboriginal is that they're drunkards and drug users. This is not reality but a huge majority think this.

As a country, we have deep seated institutionalised racism that has taken root and flourished over the last few decades. We have this national way of thinking where the indigenous population needs to comply to our laws, our way of life. If an indigenous family wants traditional education, nah - go to one of the 'normal' schools. Want to learn an indigenous language? Nah, learn German or French or Japanese.

We also have severe tall poppy syndrome where we can't let anyone have it better than anyone else. Our Australia Day is also a huge issue since it's on the day of the first colonists landing.

All in all, we don't have an equivalent because we have a rotten attitude to our first nations.