“Why are we doing this? Will it bring us closer together? Will it unify us? What is the purpose of this exercise? Should it deal with unfinished business or is it a beginning?” Professor Mick Dodson speaks at a Senate Occasional Lecture in Canberra about the Indigenous recognition referendum due in 2013. Commenting on the proposal for a values statement to be included in the Constitution at the same time, Professor Dodson said this referendum should concentrate on only one issue – and not be held in conjunction with a federal election. The values statement, he thinks, should be put aside until we vote on “an inclusive republic with a new constitution”.
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
