Current:Home > InvestRetired Australian top judge and lawyers rebut opponents of Indigenous Voice-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Retired Australian top judge and lawyers rebut opponents of Indigenous Voice
View Date:2024-12-23 20:38:25
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A former High Court chief justice and dozens of legal academics on Friday rebutted key arguments used in the public campaign against Australians creating an advocacy body for the Indigenous population.
Robert French, who retired as Australia’s most senior judge in 2017, used a speech to the National Press Club to urge Australians to vote to enshrine in the constitution a so-called Indigenous Voice to Parliament at an Oct. 14 vote, the nation’s first referendum in a generation.
The Voice is aimed at giving Australia’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policies that effect their lives.
“A vote in favor of the Voice is a new beginning and something in which this generation and generations to come should be able to take justifiable pride,” French said.
Separately, 71 Australian university teachers of constitution law and other fields of public law signed an open letter published Friday that rebutted the argument that the Voice would be “risky.”
“We know that the vast majority of expert legal opinion agrees that this amendment is not constitutionally risky,” the letter said.
Peak legal, business, faith and sporting groups overwhelmingly support the Voice. But opinion polls suggest most Australians do not, and that the nation’s first referendum since 1999 will fail.
If the referendum does pass, it would be the first to do so since 1977 and the only one in the 122-year history of the constitution to be carried without the bipartisan support of the major political parties.
French said he rejected the “No” campaign’s argument that an “over-speaking Voice might deluge all and sundry in executive government with its opinions.”
French said the Parliament could decide how the Voice made recommendations to government. He also rejected arguments that courts could force a government to act on the Voice’s suggestions or bind Parliament to take the Voice’s advice before making laws.
The “No” case cites another retired High Court Justice, Ian Callinan, who argues that legal uncertainty surrounding the Voice would lead to more than a decade of litigation.
French said Callinan’s “gloomy prognosis” was not probable.
“I couldn’t say there won’t be litigation,” French said. “It’s a matter of assessing the risk against the return. I see the risk as low — very low — compared with the potential benefits of the outcome.”
Legal risk and the potential for the constitution to divide Australians along racial lines are major objections to the Voice raised by conservative opposition parties.
Voice opponents include conservatives who argue the change is too radical, progressives who argue the change is not radical enough, and people who exhibit blatant racism.
A self-described progressive opponent of the Voice, independent Aboriginal Sen. Lidia Thorpe, circulated among the news media on Thursday an online white supremacist video that targets her by name.
In the video, a man disguised by a ski mask burns an Aboriginal flag before giving a Nazi salute.
Thorpe blamed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for inspiring far-right extremists by holding the referendum.
“The referendum is an act of genocide against my people,” Thorpe told reporters Thursday.
Albanese said “there is no place in Australia” for such far-right demonstrations.
Indigenous Australians account for 3.8% of Australia’s population. They have worse outcomes on average than other Australians in a range of measures including health, employment, education and incarceration rates. Statistically, Indigenous Australians die around eight years younger than the wider community.
veryGood! (2943)
Related
- Blake Snell free agent rumors: Best fits for two-time Cy Young winner
- The 2022 hurricane season shows why climate change is so dangerous
- California plans to cut incentives for home solar, worrying environmentalists
- More than 100 people are dead and dozens are missing in storm-ravaged Philippines
- Skai Jackson announces pregnancy with first child: 'My heart is so full!'
- 'Water batteries' could store solar and wind power for when it's needed
- Tornadoes hit Texas and Oklahoma, killing at least 2 people and injuring dozens
- Low-income countries want more money for climate damage. They're unlikely to get it.
- Judge sets date for 9/11 defendants to enter pleas, deepening battle over court’s independence
- What a lettuce farm in Senegal reveals about climate-driven migration in Africa
Ranking
- Judge moves to slash $38 million verdict in New Hampshire youth center abuse case
- Did the world make progress on climate change? Here's what was decided at global talks
- Grasslands: The Unsung Carbon Hero
- See Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix Defend Raquel Leviss Against Whore Accusations Before Affair Scandal
- Review: 'Emilia Pérez' is the most wildly original film you'll see in 2024
- Pregnant Lindsay Lohan and Husband Bader Shammas Spotted in NYC After Baby Shower
- Cameron Diaz Resumes Filming Back in Action Amid Co-Star Jamie Foxx's Hospitalization
- You'll Be Soaring After Learning Zac Efron Just Followed Ex-Girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens on Instagram
Recommendation
-
'Climate change is real': New York parks employee killed as historic drought fuels blazes
-
Strong thunderstorms and tornadoes are moving through parts of the South
-
Extreme weather, fueled by climate change, cost the U.S. $165 billion in 2022
-
As farmers split from the GOP on climate change, they're getting billions to fight it
-
Social media star squirrel euthanized after being taken from home tests negative for rabies
-
Are climate change emissions finally going down? Definitely not
-
Yellen says development banks need overhauling to deal with global challenges
-
EPA seeks to mandate more use of ethanol and other biofuels