"Current multiparty support has created a historic opportunity to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of Australia, to affirm their full and equal citizenship, and to remove the last vestiges of racial discrimination from the Constitution. The Expert Panel was tasked to report to the Government on possible options for constitutional change to give effect to Indigenous constitutional recognition, including advice as to the level of support from Indigenous people and the broader community for these options. This executive summary sets out the Panel's conclusions and recommendations" [taken from executive summary]; report contains draft Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their cultures, languages and heritage, to replace racially discriminatory provisions and to include a prohibition of racial discrimination. "The Act may be cited as the Constitution alteration (Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples) 2013."

"The Panel's task was to report to the Government on the options for constitutional change and approaches to a referendum that would be most likely to obtain widespread support across the Australian community. The conversation with our fellow Australians took place in communities, towns and cities across the country and gave the Panel invaluable insights into how people from many backgrounds and walks of life want to see their sense of nationhood and citizenship reflected in the Constitution."--Foreword from the co-chairs.

On 27 May 1967 a remarkable event occurred. An overwhelming majority of electors voted in a national referendum to amend clauses of the Australian Constitution concerning Aboriginal people. Today it is commonly regarded as a turning point in the history of relations between Indigenous and white Australians: a historic moment when citizenship rights -- including the vote -- were granted and the Commonwealth at long last assumed responsibility for Aboriginal affairs. Yet the constitutional changes entailed in the referendum brought about none of these things. "The 1967 Referendum" explores the legal and political significance of the referendum and the long struggle by black and white Australians for constitutional change. It traces the emergence of a series of powerful narratives about the Australian Constitution and the status of Aborigines, revealing how and why the referendum campaign acquired so much significance and has since become the subject of highly charged myth in contemporary Australia. Attwood and Markus's text is complemented by personal recollections and opinions about the referendum by a range of Indigenous people, and historical documents and illustrations.

"... Despite progress in the understanding and respect between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians, the unique contribution of Indigenous Australians to our national life is not reflected in the nation's founding document, the Australian Constitution ... In December 2010 Prime Minister Julia Gillard appointed an Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians to lead a national conversation about making the recognition of Indigenous Australians in the Constitution a reality. This paper has been written to encourage all Australians to express their views on how to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution. In the coming months the Australian people will be consulted on a range of ideas for recognising Indigenous peoples in the Constitution ... This paper aims to provide a starting point for this national conversation. It discusses the importance of constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, provides general information on Australia's Constitution and the process of constitutional reform, and poses some questions designed to promote public discussion." -- P. 5.

Darryl McCarthy (a Mardigan man from South West Queensland)Women's Business Reproduced with permission of the artist © Darryl McCarthy_______________________________________This collection of essays explores the history and current status of proposals to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution of Australia. The book had its genesis in a colloquium co-hosted by the University of Southern Queensland and Southern Cross University, attended by scholars from Australia and overseas and prominent participants in the recognition debates. The contributions have been updated and supplemented to produce a collection that explores what is possible and preferable from a variety of perspectives, organised into three parts: 'Concepts and Context', 'Theories, Critique and Alternatives', and 'Comparative Perspectives'. It includes work by well-regarded constitutional law scholars and legal historians, as well as analysis built from and framed by Indigenous world views and knowledges. It also features the voices of a number of comparative scholars - examining relevant developments in the United States, Canada, the South Pacific, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and South America. The combined authorship represents 10 universities from across Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. The book is intended to be both an accurate and detailed record of this critical step in Australian legal and political history and an enduring contribution to ongoing dialogue, reconciliation and the empowerment of Australia's First Peoples.

Cover image: Clinton Nain, Crowned Target, 2006, acrylic and bitumen on canvas, 152 x 122 cmWhen Australians today debate how to achieve a just postcolonial relationship with the First Peoples of the continent, they typically do so using the language of 'constitutional recognition'. The idea of constitutional recognition has become the subject of community forums and nationwide inquiries, street protests and prime ministerial speeches. Dylan Lino's book provides the first comprehensive study of Indigenous constitutional recognition in Australia.Offering more than a legal analysis, Lino places the idea of constitutional recognition into a broader historical and theoretical perspective. After recounting the history of Australian debates on Indigenous recognition, the book presents an account that views constitutional recognition in terms of Indigenous peoples' struggles to have their identities respected within the settler constitutional order. When studied in this way, constitutional recognition emerges not as a postcolonial endpoint but as an ongoing process of renegotiating the basic Indigenous-settler political relationship.With First Peoples continuing to press for the recognition of their sovereignty and peoplehood, this book will be a definitive reference point for scholars, advocates, policy-makers and the interested public.Dr Dylan Lino, Constitutional Recognition of Australia's Indigenous People: Law, History and Politics (original title), was the winner of the Holt Prize 2017.AUSPUBLAW presents Book Forum on Dylan Lino's Constitutional Recognition: First Peoples and the Australian Settler State, 14 August 2019Dani Larkin provides first post. "Dylan has provided readers and legal professionals alike with a very useful and educational book that better informs current issues surrounding Indigenous constitutional recognition." Click here to readThe Hon Robert French AC provides the second post. "[The book] will inform ongoing debate about constitutional recognition to those who are seriously engaged in it. It also, and particularly, is a valuable addition to the scholarly literature on recognition for First Peoples in Australia." Click here to readDylan Lino replies to reflections from Dani Larkin and the Hon Robert French AC. "Putting a book out into the world is, among many other things, exhilarating and anxiety-inducing. The exhilaration and anxiety come from the prospect of having other people actually read it, especially people with such brilliant minds and careful eyes as Dani Larkin and Robert French. I'm honoured and humbled at the evident brilliance and care with which both Larkin and French have engaged with my book..." Click here to read