Constitutional Reform: A New Narrative for Australia

Speech given by Hon Linda Burney MP at Edmund Rice Gathering to mark the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Edmund Rice – St Patrick's College, Strathfield, NSW. 3rd May 2012.

I have been invited to talk tonight about Constitutional reform and the rightful place of the First Peoples within the Australian Constitution. Before I do that, given that today is about celebrating the life and enduring work of Edmund Rice, I would like to share with you some lessons I have learned and beliefs I have arrived at from my own life...

I would agree that Constitutional recognition is so fundamentally important – as the basis for our legal system and at the heart of our civil society - that we must address it. It is a basic part of reconciliation - an expression of respect for the important position First People should hold...
 
We will and are beginning to hear the argument such change to the Constitution would just be symbolic much in the same way some nay sayers spoke of the Apology. I put to you this evening that symbolism is fundamental to a countries identity. It is why every country town and suburb has a War Memorial. It is why poetry touches you. It is why the country exhaled a long breath when Kevin Rudd apologised. Just think what it is like for Aboriginal people looking into your own country and not being able to see yourself. The reflection is blank. We must change the Constitution if for no other reason...

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