[cont]
I agree with you that no living person has anything to apologise for as far as the past is concerned, but I do think the person who represents our government should apologise, not for what we have done, but what our government that represents us did many years ago.

- And that has happened.

I don't fully understand the problems you're referring to that have occurred in other nations, but I accept your argument that problems have resulted and I do believe that there should be one law for everyone.

I recognise them as first Australians as I think most people do.
But I'm not sure what sort of a can of worms would be opened if they were legally accepted as first Australians.
(I'm not saying that in any way to be insulting towards them - I just don't understand the finer details or potential results of what this would mean.)

I'd like to see the indigenous have more opportunities and a chance at better lives (though I'm not sure how many are willing to embrace those opportunities) and as I said earlier I accept the criticism that in many cases the indigenous don't want to help themselves.

Which pretty much brings me full circle back to a place where I'm really not sure what position I should have on this issue.
Honestly, I'm not close enough to seeing or understanding all the issues as they are out in those remote communities or to know how they really feel to have any sort of worthwhile opinion on what is best.

The Constitution was written by white men for white men. It is not an all inclusive document at all, and reflects the thinking and values of the European ruling class in the late nineteenth century. By omission the constitution discriminates against our indigenous people. The time is now overdue for that discrimination to be removed once and for all.

ttbn you said "no person now living has anything to apologise for" that is not true. To give you one example;

<< In July 2006 Aboriginal Elder Matilda House and her daughter-in-law Antoinette House applied to join the radio station QBN-FM 96.7, near Canberra. Their application was refused because they ‘lived at different addresses’

Leaked draft minutes from the station’s board meeting told a different story.

The minutes recorded the station manager as saying that the women ‘wanted to take over the station’ and that ‘the Aboriginals were fighting on street corners’. A board member was minuted as having suggested to ‘kick them all out’.

A complaint to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission was unsuccessful because there was no prospect of settlement by conciliation. It took the Federal Magistrates Court to decide in February 2007 that the two women were unlawfully rejected membership.

The court ruled $12,000 in compensation plus court costs to be paid by the radio station.>>

Are these people still living? This is only one example

To simply brush off discrimination as ancient history. or blame governments of long ago for acts of discrimination is a way for many to absolve themselves, and the rest of society of any culpability. Then to dismiss the whole exercise as insignificant or irrelevant, and not reflective of the majority view, just say it is being driven by some unnamed elite, who have their own private agenda.

Paul,

There are adequate laws to deal with discrimination against anyone for race, gender, sexual preference - you name it,there's a law; and we have zealots at the HRC, slavering to get into it. Recognition in the Constitution would be institutional discrimination against the majority. The Constitution is not meant to speak to culture, but to the powers politicians should have permitted by the people.

AC,

Nobody should be 'ashamed' of having Aboriginal heritage. The people who should be ashamed are now dead and forgotten. People closer to now who should have been ashamed of themselves, but were not, were Gough Whitlam and 'Nugget' Coombes, the architects of the 'noble savage' idea that indigenous Australians should live there lives separate from the rest of us; a living museum, botting on welfare and living in squalor, as it turned out. All of these "progressives" want people dependent on them so that that can control them. Aboriginal separation and dependence is just the beginning of it. The rest of us will be getting similar treatment if we just sit back and ignore what is going on. Other people who should be ashamed of themselves are Dodson, Pearson, Gooda and the rest. Who would they be without the Aboriginal grievance industry? They live the affluent lives of white people, and use the real black fellas to keep them there. Stan Grant is another poser and user. Have another look at the Council list. Which of those people does not live a life of privilege using other people to get and keep them there. Cynical parasites the lot of them.

On discrimination: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders receive twice the government money per head than other Australians do. In 2012-2013, $3O billion was spent on them - 6.1% of government expenditure for 3% of the population. Add more "positive discrimination" by fiddling with the Constitution, and the poor old black fellas, most disconnected from their elites, will really be pariahs. The price will continue to rise, and who knows what unelected judges will be able to lever out of government coffers after changes to the Constitution.

"That was over two centuries ago...".
Until the 1950s, Aboriginal people in NSW were moved into reserves, sometimes by force. At one level this was for their own 'good', as big stations were they had been able to remain on their land and work in the pastoral industry were broken up into small family farms. But life on the reserves especially the larger ones (ironically called Aboriginal stations) was coercive. White managers could ban people, teachers at Aboriginal schools did not need qualifications, and girls in their early teens were 'disposed' of (the term used) as servants to anyone who asked. If they were mistreated and ran away, they were generally refused readmittance to the Aboriginal station.
Some of these people are still alive. Their children and grandchildren are still alive and remember what happened when they visit the graves of their relations in the old reserve cemeteries.
What happened two hundred years ago was just the start.