The AIM Network

Your Say: the 1967 Referendum

Image from sbs.com.au

From Gary Pead

It should be remembered in Referendum Week ​that in 1967 Territorians (ie, citizens of the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay) ​along with Aboriginal people were also not full citizens. Only after the 1967 Referendum were they also accorded the ​full right of a citizen​ to vote in referendums.

The Canberra constitutional ​elected ​representative for the people of Canberra was my father Jim Pead MBE​ (late Gold Coast resident of Broadbeach).

It is embarrassing to those of us who care that that full citizenship recognition for white Australians was fixed so quickly ​in 1967​and yet the non-inclusive constitutional recognition of First Australians remains un-fixed​.

​​Particularly galling is the almost complete ignorance of Indigenous​ Gold Coast stories which should be the told as an integral part of the developed tourism package. What a pity such inclusive vision is blocked by a high-rise building or a cruise ship.

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