And apparently you can't discriminate between laws which permit punitive actions against a particular race and another which affords affirmative action.

As to whether the document is racist it is pretty simple mate, do you believe having the power to ban a particular race from voting is a racist provision within the Constitution or not?

SteelRedux,
Rephrased; do you believe having the power to ban a particular race from voting at a stage in their cultural development when the concept of voting was still foreign is a racist provision within the Constitution or not?

WTF?

At the time of Federation, in South Australia, Indigenous men and women were able to vote in both state and federal elections.

In 1902,the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 removed Aboriginal Australians' rights to vote in a federal election.

Oh dear Steele,

Let's look at section 25 again, shall we....

"For the purposes of the last section[ie S24], if by the law of any State all persons of any race are disqualified from voting at elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of the State, then, in reckoning the number of the people of the State or of the Commonwealth, persons of that race resident in that State shall not be counted"

Nowhere in there does the constitution give the parliament the "the power to ban a particular race from voting (SR's words)". NOWHERE. In particular this isn't an anti-aboriginal clause. In fact the exact opposite.

By way of background for the historically challenged, at the time of federation some states (Qld and WA)excluded some races, especially aboriginal but also others, from voting for that state's lower house. Section 24 detailed how the distribution of electorates was to be determined which in essence was based on population. But the framers were concerned that some states would use their aboriginal population to increase their representation while at the same time excluding that same population from voting. Hence Section 25 was included which, it was hoped would entice those hold-out states from excluding their aboriginal population from voting. That is, it was a PRO-aboriginal measure, attempting to encourage states into giving the vote to their aboriginal peoples so as to increase their overall representation in the Federal lower house.

I was going to say how hilarious it is that SR and others have so badly misunderstood the import of S25. But its actually not funny. Tens of thousand, perhaps millions will vote in the next referendum with views based on this lack of knowledge. As I said earlier..."People who misunderstand so much or are so easily misled are going to vote "yes" - the carpet-baggers are counting on it."

Oh dear mhaze,

There is no direct evidence that was the clear intent of the framers of the Constitution, supposition only.

In fact Section 30 runs counter to any such supposition in that it states:

"30. Qualification of electors
Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the qualification of electors of members of the House of Representatives shall be in each State that which is prescribed by the law of the State as the qualification of electors of the more numerous House of Parliament of the State; but in the choosing of members each elector shall vote only once."

So completely encompassing the State's racial laws and using them as a basis for the right to vote Federally.

Albanese doesn't want to provide Australian voters a 2-4 page summary (as required under Referendum conventions) that would provide arguments For Yes and Against No.

because this would expose and trigger the broad disagreements between Aboriginal Factions and other stakeholders.

For example one Victoria based faction (lets call them the Urban Radicals) don't want a Referendum at all due to the risk it would be voted down. Instead they want Albanese to go straight to Treaty and a "Truth-Telling" Compensation Commission.

They see the Uluru pro-Referendum, Northern Australia, Traditionalists, who do want a Referendum, as a bunch of old under-educated yokels.

Albanese wishes to hide this rift by denying Voters a summarised 2-4 page information package (as required under Referendum conventions) that would allow voters to make an informed choice.