M4 - Learner Manual
3. Social Justice Policies and Equity
3.3. The Uluru Statement from the Heart
The Uluru Statement is a proposal of constitutional reform that would establish First Nations representative body to advise parliament on policy affecting Indigenous peoples.
The Statement proposes three key elements for reform:
Constitutional change – specific reference to Australia’s First Nations
Legislative change – supervised processes for agreements with Australian governments
Makarrata commission – to oversee the legislative change processes and ensure that the real stories about Australia’s colonial history replace the convenient fabrications in official histories.
It was hailed as a breakthrough, a line in the sand. But Australia has drawn plenty of those over the years, and the wind blows them away. The Yirrkala bark petitions in 1963, the Larrakia petition in 1972 and the Barunga statement in 1988 all called for self-determination and a recognition of First Nations sovereignty alongside other demands for land rights.
Mick Dodson was at Barunga to see Bob Hawke accept and later reject the call for a treaty and is all too familiar with promises of reform being brushed away. It leaves First Nations people with only one possible approach, he said:
‘When the line in the sand is erased, you step up and draw the line again’.
A canvas bearing the official copy of the Uluru statement from the heart
Refer to the statement in full through the following link
You can read the articles in the following links on where we are up to with negotiating a treaty:
2023 referendum for Constitutional Change