Discussion paper response

Ingrid Neilson
What is your full name?
Ingrid Neilson
What is your postal code?
2034
Do you support recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by changing the Constitution or making some other kind of legal change?
Yes
What should the change look like?
By making an official statement about the First Peoples of Australia, acknowledging that Aboriginal and TSI people lived here before the British arrived.
Should we have a statement that acknowledges the First Peoples of Australia?
Yes. This should be in the Constitution.
Where is the best place to put it?
The Constitution as a starting point.
What should the statement say?
That the First Australians lived here since The Dreaming and at least 60,000 years according to European analysis. And that the notion of Terra nullius was wrong.
Do you have any other comments on a statement about the First Peoples of Australia?
That their culture, languages and heritage is complex and still continues to this day. I would also like an acknowledgement of the terrible injustices committed by Europeans - including the massacres and incarcerations and legal injustices. As an Anglo-Sa
Should the word 'race' be taken out of the Constitution?
Yes
Should the Australian Parliament keep the power to make special laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples?
I don't know
Do you have any other comments on powers to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples?
I would like laws to be non-discriminatory, but in saying that I also think that governments should provide for positive discrimination policies, to restore some equality and to account for historical legal and policy biases that disadvantaged indigenous
Do you think that a guarantee against racial discrimination should go into the Constitution?
Yes
Do you have any ideas about what words to use for that guarantee, or where in the Constitution to put it?
It should be driven by a group of Indigenous people who can give advice to Parliament about Indigenous issues.
Should the guarantee protect all Australians against racial discrimination, or only Indigenous Australians?
All Australians
If there is not enough support for a guarantee in the Constitution, what other things can we do to stop racial discrimination in national laws?
Have an Indigenous body to advise Parliament.
Do you have any other comments on changing the Constitution to stop racial discrimination?
Get rid of S25.
Do you think Indigenous people should have a say when Parliament and government make laws and policies about Indigenous affairs?
Yes
Should a new Indigenous group be set up under the Constitution to give advice and make sure Indigenous people have a voice in political decisions that affect them?
Yes
Is it worth creating the new group if it can only give advice and does not have the power to block new laws?
I don't know
Should we delete section 25?
Yes
What would we achieve by getting rid of section 25?
It would do away with historical idiotic bigotry
Is there any point in keeping it?
No
Are you making a submission on behalf of a person (such as yourself) or organisation?
Individual