Tony Abbott: the Liberal party should preselect more Indigenous candidates
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Version 0 of 1. The prime minister has said he would like the Liberal party to preselect more Indigenous people as federal candidates, after his top adviser rubbished a suggestion for a designated number of federal seats for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australians. Palmer United party senator Jacqui Lambie – who told the Senate in her maiden speech that she had Indigenous heritage – has called for a national debate on dedicated federal seats for Indigenous Australians to better represent the estimated 3% of the Australian population. The proposal has also been suggested to Tony Abbott by some of his Indigenous advisers as one of many ways to help close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous living conditions, the Australian reported. Abbott, who is in Arnhem Land visiting Indigenous communities for a week, has not ruled out the proposal but on Tuesday said it was too soon to be considering specific proposals and his current focus was on a timetable and model for the referendum on constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians. However, he did say would like to see more Indigenous members of parliament. “I think it’s important that Aboriginal voices be heard,” he told ABC’s Radio National. “I’d like to see my party preselect more Indigenous people as their candidate. I suspect Bill Shorten would want the Labor party to do the same.” The head of Abbott’s Indigenous Advisory Council, Warren Mundine, had earlier on Tuesday dismissed the proposal and said legislated quotas would cause “division and problems”. “I’m not attracted to the idea of designated seats,” Mundine told ABC’s Radio National. “I think when you’re looking at the national, state or territory legislators you’ll see that Aboriginals have been very successful over the last 10 years with numbers going up and more Aboriginals in every election.” Mundine said New Zealand – which has dedicated seats for Maori representatives – was just “one out of how many.” “I look at countries around the world where they do have these race- or religious-based constitutions and you see division and problem. Fiji’s had it, Lebanon’s had it,” he said. Designating a quota of Indigenous parliamentarians would require changes to the constitution, and the discussion has been labeled a distraction at a time when the focus is on constitutional reform to remove discrimination and formally recognise Indigenous Australians. Mundine suggested the two proposals were contradictory. “You can’t have an argument about taking race out of the constitution, which everyone agrees with, and then say oh but we’re going to have race back in the constitution. It’s illogical and ... the Australian public will not wear that.” Australia’s first Indigenous MP, Ken Wyatt, said the timing of the suggestion was “bizarre” and that designated seats would cause resentment among other members of the Australian population. Wyatt and Mundine will shortly be arriving in Gove, in eastern Arnhem Land to meet with Abbott and other government and Indigenous leaders for talks on Wednesday. |