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A First Nations Voice: Institutionalising Political Listening

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Gabrielle Appleby Open the ORCID record for Gabrielle Appleby [Opens in a new window]  and
Eddie Synot
Gabrielle Appleby*
Affiliation:
UNSW Law
Eddie Synot*
Affiliation:
Indigenous Law Centre, UNSW Law
*
The author may be contacted at g.appleby@unsw.edu.au.
The author may be contacted at g.appleby@unsw.edu.au.
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Abstract

The Uluru Statement from the Heart offers an opportunity to reorder the Australian constitutional hierarchy as it relates to First Nations. The proposal for a First Nations Voice provides a tailored, structural response to the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people under the Australian state. For the First Nations Voice to meet this potential, it will require more than careful design of the Voice as a new constitutional institution; it will require existing constitutional institutions within the legislature and executive to learn to ‘listen’. This article draws on the political and democratic listening literature to examine how political listening might be practised at the interface between the First Nations Voice and existing constitutional institutions. We suggest five principles to guide this cross-institutional relationship together with ways these principles might be incorporated into governance structures.

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Federal Law Review , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 529 - 542
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 The Author(s)

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Footnotes

We would like to thank Sean Brennan, Karen Drake, Paul Kildea, Liora Lazarus, Dylan Lino and Vanessa MacDonnell for helpful suggestions on earlier versions of this article. We would also like to thank Megan Davis and Rebecca La Forgia for stimulating our ideas about constitutional listening that form the basis of this article

References

1. First Nations Constitutional Convention, ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’ [2017] Indigenous Law Resources 1; Referendum Council, Final Report of the Referendum Council (Report, 30 June 2017) <https://www.referendumcouncil.org.au/sites/default/files/report_attachments/Referendum_Council_Final_Report.pdf>. We use the language of ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ and ‘First Nations’, which reflects the language of the Uluru Statement.

2. See, eg, Kay Anderson, Race and the Crisis of Humanism (Routledge, 2007) 112–42; Russel McGregor, Imagined Destinies: Aboriginal Australians and the Doomed Race Theory, 1880–1939 (Melbourne University Press, 1993).

3. See, eg, John Weaver, The Great Land Rush and the Making of the Modern World, 1650–1900 (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006) 133–78.

4. See, eg, Henry Reynolds, The Law of the Land (Penguin, 3rd ed, 2002); Megan Davis and Marcia Langton, ‘Constitutional Reform in Australia: Recognition of Indigenous Australians and Reconciliation’ in Patrick Macklem and Douglas Sanderson (eds), From Recognition to Reconciliation: Essays on Constitutional Entrenchment of Aboriginal & Treaty Rights (University of Toronto Press, 2016) 449.

5. See, eg, Lauren Benton, Adam Clulow and Bain Attwood (eds), Protection and Empire: A Global History (Cambridge University Press, 2017) 132–50.

6. See, eg, Bain Attwood, The Making of the Aborigines (Allen & Unwin, 1989); Amanda Nettelbeck, Indigenous Rights and Colonial Subjecthood: Protection and Reform in the Nineteenth–Century British Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

7. See, eg, the various protection acts, and exclusion from the federal franchise until the introduction of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1962 (Cth); Garth Nettheim, Victims of the Law: Black Queenslanders Today (Allen & Unwin, 1981); Julie Evans, Patricia Grimshaw and David Phillps (eds), Equal Subjects, Unequal Rights: Indigenous Peoples in British Settler Colonies, 1830–1910 (Manchester University Press, 2003) 134–57.

8. See, eg, John Chesterman and Brian Galligan, Citizens Without Rights: Aborigines and Australian Citizenship (Cambridge University Press, 1997) 156–93; Nicolas Peterson and Will Sanders (eds), Citizenship and Indigenous Australians: Changing Conceptions and Possibilities (Cambridge University Press, 1998) 77–117.

9. Glen Coulthard, Red Skins, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition (University of Minnesota Press, 2014) 1–25.

10. Ibid 25, 79–105.

11. Elizabeth A Povinelli, The Cunning of Recognition: Indigenous Alterities and the Making of Australian Multiculturalism (Duke University Press, 2002) 35–67.

12. Ibid 6.

13. Although, note that the development of land rights in Australia does not conform strictly to these boundaries. For example, development following the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth) and the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW) has enabled the entrenchment of semi-autonomous First Nations’ political bases, including land councils, from which to advocate and exercise self-determination.

14. John Borrows, Freedom & Indigenous Constitutionalism (University of Toronto Press, 2016); see also Karen Drake in this issue, ‘Indigenous Constitutionalism and Dispute Resolution Outside the Courts: An Invitation’.

15. For example, the protections offered by s 35 of the Canada Act 1982 (UK) c 11, sch B (‘Constitution Act 1982’) or more recently negotiated commitments to inherent rights of self-government following the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1991–96) and modern treaty and settlement negotiations.

16. Borrows (n 14) 4.

17. Ibid 205–14.

18. Megan Davis, ‘The Long Road to Uluru’ in Julianne Schultz and Sandra Phillips (eds), Griffith Review 60: First Things First (Griffith University, 2018) 13.

19. Referendum Council (n 1) 21.

20. The Uluru Statement describes the ‘structural nature of our problem’ as ‘the torment of our powerlessness’.

21. See, eg, discussion in Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition Relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Final Report (Report, 29 November 2018) 13–24, <https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Former_Committees/Constitutional_Recognition_2018/ConstRecognition/Final_Report>; Referendum Council (n 1) 30. See also Bertus De Villiers, ‘Electing an Aboriginal Voice in Australia—Who will Get to Vote in Elections for the Proposed Advisory Body?’ (2019) 18(3) Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe 19.

22. Referendum Council (n 1) 30.

23. See, eg, Malcolm Turnbull, ‘Response to Referendum Council’s Report on Constitutional Recognition’ (Media Release, 26 October 2017) <https://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/response-to-referendum-councils-report-on-constitutional-recognition>.

24. See, eg, Duncan Ivison, Paul Patton and Will Sanders (eds), Political Theory and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Cambridge University Press, 2000); Seyla Benhabib, The Claims of Culture (Princeton University Press, 2002).

25. Coulthard (n 9).

26. See, eg, Cape York Institute, 38.2 Supplementary Submission to Submission 38 to Parliament of Australia, Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (January 2015) 8–9; Pat Anderson et al, Submission No 479 to Parliament of Australia, Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition Relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples (3 November 2018) 11; Anne Twomey, ‘An Indigenous Advisory Body: Addressing the Concerns About Justiciability and Parliamentary Sovereignty’ (2015) 8(19) Indigenous Law Bulletin 6; Shireen Morris, ‘“The Torment of Our Powerlessness”: Addressing Indigenous Constitutional Vulnerability Through the Uluru Statement’s Call for a First Nations Voice in Their Affairs’ (2018) 41(3) UNSW Law Journal 629.

27. Gabrielle Appleby, ‘Constitutionalising an Indigenous Voice in Australian Law-Making: Some Institutional Design Challenges’ (2014/2015) 18(2) Australian Indigenous Law Review 98, 100.

28. Cheryl Saunders, ‘Indigenous Constitutional Recognition: The Concept of Consultation’ (2015) 8(19) Indigenous Law Bulletin 19, 19. For concerns informed by comparative and past experience that the government and legislature may fail at this task, see Bertus De Villiers, ‘Is an Advisory Body for Aboriginal People in Australia Progress to Rectify Past Injustices or a “Toy Telephone”?: Insights From European and Other Experiences’ (2018) 17(1) Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe 24; Bertus De Villiers ‘An Ancient People Struggling to Find a Modern Voice—Experiences of Australia’s Indigenous People with Advisory Bodies’ (2019) 26(4) International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 600.

29. Melbourne Regional Dialogue, Record of Meeting (17–19 March 2017).

30. Jill Stauffer, Ethical Loneliness: The Injustice of Not Being Heard (Columbia University Press, 2015) 70.

31. Ibid 29.

32. Ibid 6, 80.

33. Ibid 170.

34. Ibid 6–7. See also ibid 80.

35. Ibid 8. See also ibid 165.

36. Megan Davis et al, ‘The Uluru Statement from the Heart, One Year On: Can a First Nations Voice Yet Be Heard?’, ABC Religion & Ethics (online), 26 May 2018 <https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-uluru-statement-from-heart-one-year-on-can-a-first-nations-v/10094678>.

37. Peter W Hogg, Allison A Bushell Thornton and Wade K Wright, ‘Charter Dialogue Revisited: or “Much Ado About Metaphors”’ (2007) 45(1) Osgoode Hall Law Journal 1.

38. See also Geoffrey Sigalet, Grégoire Webber and Rosalind Dixon, ‘Introduction: The ‘What’ and ‘Why’ of Constitutional Dialogue’ in Geoffrey Sigalet, Grégoire Webber and Rosalind Dixon (eds), Constitutional Dialogue: Rights, Democracy, Institutions (Cambridge University Press, 2019) 1.

39. See, eg, Scott Stephenson, From Dialogue to Disagreement in Comparative Rights Constitutionalism (Federation Press, 2016).

40. Andrew Dobson, Listening for Democracy: Recognition, Representation, Reconciliation (Oxford University Press, 2014) 64–5.

41. Ibid 66–7.

42. Ibid 68.

43. Ibid.

44. Ibid 176.

45. Ibid 182, quoting Jonathan Gosling et al, ‘Keynote Listening: Turning the Tables on the Sage on the Stage’ (2012) 9(1) Business Leadership Review 1, 3.

46. Ibid 193.

47. Ibid 129; cf Habermasian norms of consensus and Dewey’s idealisation of attaining a ‘common’ good.

48. Dobson (n 40) 3.

49. Ibid 130.

50. Iris Marion Young, Inclusion and Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2000).

51. Susan Bickford, The Dissonance of Democracy: Listening, Conflict and Citizenship (Cornell University Press, 1996).

52. Ibid 11.

53. Ibid 16.

54. Ibid 19.

55. Ibid.

56. Ibid.

57. Ibid 23–4.

58. Ibid 165.

59. Ibid.

60. This idea of guiding principles to inform a deliberative process has parallels with the Guiding Principles that were adopted at the First Nations Constitutional Convention to guide the work of the delegates that ultimately led to the adoption of the Uluru Statement. See further Referendum Council (n 1) 22.

61. Report of the Hindmarsh Island Bridge Royal Commission (Final Report, December 1995).

62. Ibid.

63. Extracted in Chapman v Luminis Pty Ltd (No 5) [2001] FCA 1106 [327] (Von Doussa J).

64. Ibid [383].

65. Kristen Anker, ‘The Truth in Painting: Cultural Artefacts as Proof of Native Title’ (2005) 9 Law Text Culture 91, 91–92.

66. Payi Payi on behalf of the Ngururrpa People and State of Western Australia (Determination Date, 18 October 2007) <http://www.nntt.gov.au/searchRegApps/NativeTitleRegisters/Pages/NNTR_details.aspx?NNTT_Fileno=WCD2007/004>.

67. See Appleby (n 27).

68. See, eg, Laura Grenfell and Sarah Moulds, ‘The Role of Committees in Rights Protections in Federal and State Parliaments’ (2018) 41 University of New South Wales Law Journal 40.

69. Dobson (n 40) 11.

70. Jeff King, ‘Constitutions as Mission Statements’ in Denis J Galligan and Mila Versteeg (eds), Social and Political Foundations of Constitutions (Cambridge University Press, 2013) 73.

71. Dylan Lino, Constitutional Recognition: First Peoples and the Australian Settler State (Federation Press, 2018) 263.

72. Gabrielle Appleby, ‘Unwritten Rules’ in Cheryl Saunders and Adrienne Stone (eds), Oxford Handbook of the Australian Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2018) 209. On this particular point regarding evolution, see Robert Garran, The Coming Commonwealth: An Australian Handbook of Federal Government (Angus & Robertson, 1897) 149.

73. Geoffrey Marshall, Constitutional Conventions: The Rules and Forms of Political Accountability (Oxford University Press, 1984) 210.

74. See Ivor Jennings, The Law and the Constitution (University of London Press, 5th ed, 1959) 136.

75. Marshall (n 73) 8–9.

76. Te Puni Kōkiri, He Tirohanga O Kawa Ki Te Tiriti O Waitangi: A Guide to the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi as Expressed by the Courts and the Waitangi Tribunal (Policy Guide, 2001) <https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/WT-Principles-of-the-Treaty-of-Waitangi-as-expressed-by-the-Courts-and-the-Waitangi-Tribunal.pdf>.

77. See Matthew Palmer, The Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand’s Law and Constitution (Victoria University Press, 2008) 220–3.

78. For drafting guidelines, see ‘Chapter 5 The Treaty of Waitangi, Treaty settlements, and Māori interests’, Legislation Design and Advisory Committee (Web Page, 28 May 2018) <http://www.ldac.org.nz/guidelines/legislation-guidelines-2018-edition/constitutional-issues-and-recognising-rights/chapter-5/>; for Cabinet procedures, see ‘Development and approval of bills’, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Web Page, 20 November 2017) <https://dpmc.govt.nz/our-business-units/cabinet-office/supporting-work-cabinet/cabinet-manual/7-executive-legislation-6>.