The Uluru Statement from the Heart seeks to resolve
the fundamental moral problem that has tormented our
country since 1788.

Indigenous
peoples were not represented in the constitutional
compact that made the Commonwealth. It was not answered
in 1967: the referendum empowered parliament to make
laws for Indigenous people, but it did not empower
Indigenous people with a fair say in respect of those
laws. It was not resolved in 1999: the proposed
symbolic preamble would have changed nothing, and it
failed at referendum.

Indigenous Australians have now formed a historic consensus.
They ask for constitutional recognition through a First
Nations voice in the Constitution. Not a racial
non-discriminatory clause, which was opposed by politicians.
Not uncertain symbolism in the Constitution.

They ask only to be heard in decisions made about them.
A practical reform. Not a veto, but merely a voice.

We've all heard the objections - the rejections of the
call for Indigenous Australians to have a guaranteed say
in laws and policies made about their affairs because
"all Australians are equal." That our nation's founding
document should "unify us - not divide us." However it
already divides us.

One of the problems is that our Constitution
has not ensured fairness and equality for Indigenous
Australians. Our Constitution confers upon Parliament a
special power to racially discriminate. The Race Power
was inserted, according to the Constitutional convention
debates, to control and exclude the "inferior" and
"coloured" peoples.

The Uluru Statement offers a way to recognise and empower
the First Nations of Australia to take responsibility for
their affairs, while holding the Constitution, respecting
Crown sovereignty and unifying the country.

Constitutional recognition is not about the out-dated,
pseudo-scientific concept of "race." It is about
recognising the rightful place of the First Nations of
Australia - the Wik, the Yolngu, the Yorta Yorta and the
Anangu. It is about acknowleding that there are peoples
in Australia whose pre-colonial heritage gives rise to
distinct rights and interests in their descendants
and that those people should have a say when parliament
makes changes affecting their distinct rights and interests.

Foxy, you're so full of it.
'They only want to be heard'.
Where have you been all these years?
Are you wearing earmuffs?
All we've heard, ad nauseum, are the blacks and how they are being persecuted, hard done by and treated like second class citizens.
Rubbish, bulldust, crap, lies all of it.
Only a liar and deceiver would believe or push such a line, when EVERYBODY knows that the blacks have been receiving special treatment for as long as memory serves, at the expense and behest of the rest of us.
Foxy stop writing these long winded stories trying to garner sympathy for an undeserving group who scoff at us behind our backs yet claim unfounded rights to our face.
You are not the type of person to be commenting on these matters as it is people like yourself that would give away the family's financial security to help others, leaving YOUR family in the poo.
Then you would have only succeeded in putting your family in dire straights, because of your narrow minded and naive views.
So stop pushing the lie about 'just want to be heard'.
We are sick of the bleeding hearts and their jelly brained followers.
You've heard it said here many times, well, ENOUGH is ENOUGH!
Those of us with an open mind and a fair amount of maturity and pragmatism and objectivity can see what you refuse to see because of insane do-goody attitude and mindset.
In some circles/circumstances people of your ilk are considered dangerous, and we can now see why.

ALTRAV,
Cheers for putting it out there so straight & forward.

Yes, ALTRAV. Well put

The Left has never been about helping the poor and the marginalised to become self-sufficient and successful, but about making the people a wholly owned subsidiary of the government.

This applies to everyone they think that they can use - black or white.

Tony Abbott told parliament in 2013:

"Australia is a blessed country. Our climate,
our land, our people, our institutions rightly
make us the envy of the earth; except for one
thing - we have never fully made peace with the
First Australians. This is the stain on our soul
that Prime Minister Keating so movingly evoked at
Redfern 21 years ago... we need to atone for the
emissions and for the hardness of heart of our
forebears to enable us all to embrace the future as
a united people."

Paul Keating in his 1992 Redfern speech said the wrongs
of the past were able to occur because our forebears failed
to ask, "How would I feel if this were done to me?"
We failed to recognise common humanity. We lacked empathy..

The colonists should have done unto the Indigenous "others"
as they would have had them do unto themselves, had the
situation been reversed. Of course, we cannot turn back
time. All we can do is work towards a better future.

The Uluru Statement has given us a practical way to do this.

The objectors lack empathy for their Indigenous Australian
countrymen. Their stance is unpatriotic. Their false
equality objection is the last refuge of scoundrels.

Most Australians have more generous hearts. We want to rise
to this moral challenge.
We want to learn from history and create a fairer future.

As the Australian's legal affairs editor, Chris Merritt,
wrote:

" Here's the harsh reality: Our forebears took this
country from the original inhabitants. We are not about to give
it back. So the least we can do is oblige ourselves to
listen when Indigenous people ask to be heard."

The Uluru Statement presents a way for the powerful
Australian majority, as represented by our democratic
parliament, to ensure that it treats the vulnerable
Indigenous minority as we would like to have been
treated, has history and circumstances been reversed.

cont'd ...