Call to recognise 'first peoples' in Constitution
The debate about formally recognising Indigenous Australians in the Constitution is set to flare following the release of recommendations from the expert panel advising the Government on the issue.
The panel, chaired by former head of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Patrick Dodson, has set out major changes to the Constitution that would recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people "as the first peoples of Australia".
The changes would need to be passed by referendum and the panel has advised that a single question be put to Australians in relation to all of the proposals.
Speaking at the launch of the panel's report, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has urged Australians to embrace the recommendations.
"As a nation we are big enough and it is the right time to say yes to an understanding of our past, to say yes to constitutional change, and to say yes to a future more united and more reconciled than we have ever been before," Ms Gillard said.
The Prime Minister says enacting the changes will "take the deepest and strongest sort of bipartisanship".
The Opposition has previously stated it would only support a "modestly worded and dignified preamble" along with repealing Section 25, which allows for state laws to disqualify people of a certain race from voting.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the Coalition will carefully study the report.
"We have some reservations about anything that might turn out to be a one-clause bill of rights," Mr Abbott said.
"But we accept that millions of Australians' hopes and dreams are resting on constitutional recognition of Indigenous people, and the last thing I want to do is do anything other than welcome this report today."
Next first step
Mr Dodson has acknowledged there are obstacles ahead but has called for "strong leadership" to take the nation forward.
"Now is the time for us to take the next first step," he said at the launch.
"This is the time when truth and respect for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples needs to be achieved."
This is the time when truth and respect for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples needs to be achieved.Panel chair Patrick Dodson
The report has recommended repealing two sections of the Constitution that allow governments to make laws applying only to certain racial groups, including Section 25.
It wants to replace them with sections recognising and acknowledging "the continuing relationship of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with their traditional lands and water" and "the need to secure the advancement" of Indigenous Australians.
Another section would specifically prohibit racial discrimination and would allow laws to be made "for the purpose of overcoming disadvantage, ameliorating the effects of past discrimination or protecting the cultures, languages or heritage of any group".
Under the recommendations another new section would be added, recognising that Indigenous languages "are the original Australian languages, a part of our national heritage".
The panel has been investigating the best options for constitutional change for more than a year and has talked to more than 4,600 people in 84 locations across the country.
It also received more than 3,500 submissions.