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…