Parliamentary Research Brief – Voice Referendum Question May be Constitutionally Invalid For Misleading And Misinforming Voters

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The Institute of Public Affairs recently received legal advice from leading Victorian barrister and constitutional law expert Mr Stuart Wood KC about the lawfulness of the proposed referendum question to insert into the Australian Constitution an ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice’. The federal government has proposed the following referendum question for voters to answer: Read More …

THE INTERPRETERS OF THE CONSTITUTION

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Page 791 Annotated Constitution of the Commonwealth. THE INTERPRETERS OF THE CONSTITUTION.—The Constitution, like every other law, is directly binding on every individual and every governmental agency within the Commonwealth. Every person, every officer, every political organ, has the duty of complying with its provisions and must in the exercise of that duty interpret its provisions, in the Read More …

Receiving the Final Report of the Referendum Council: a challenge for public law

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Anna Yeatman Professor, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University Introduction This submission is a slightly changed version of a presentation to “Taking a rightful place in our own country”: Indigenous self-determination and the Australian people, a collaboration between the Whitlam Institute within Western Sydney University and Nura Gili, University of New South Wales, Read More …

Is the Voice referendum in conflict with The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination?

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Entry into force: 4 January 1969, in accordance with Article 19 RACIAL DISCRIMINATION ACT 1975 No. 52, 1975 – SCHEDULE The States Parties to this Convention, Considering that the Charter of the United Nations is based on the principles of the dignity and equality inherent in all human beings, and that all Member States have Read More …