![r for recognise](https://quadrant.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/r-for-recognise-e1613781814246-1.jpg)
The Misguided Pursuit of Recognition
Peter Dutton’s promise on 11 August (reiterated on 3 September) to have his own referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution is a grave mistake. Admittedly, the promise may make sense politically as polling shows most Australians support the concept of symbolic constitutional recognition rather than the Voice. Most No campaigners have insisted they support recognition but reject the Uluru Statement’s model of voice, treaty and truth-telling.
However, such an approach is misguided because it was a desire to entrench constitutional recognition in the first place that got the nation into this current referendum mess. Let us begin in 1999 when John Howard proposed a preamble to the Constitution. Most people remember the Republic Referendum of that year. However, John Howard also proposed a preamble. There was no enthusiastic campaign for the preamble, and it was defeated by a significant margin, close to 60% voting ‘No.’ In…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
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To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
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23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
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2 mins