LOCAL MP ACKNOWLEDGES THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1967 REFERENDUM
The Member for Berowra, Philip Ruddock MP stated that Australians must acknowledge one of the most important days in our history – the 1967 referendum that extended citizenship rights or the right to vote for all Indigenous Australians.
“The 27th of May 2007 marks the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum, in which more than 90% of Australians voted to remove clauses from the constitution which discriminated against Indigenous people,” Mr Ruddock said.
“Australians voted in a collective voice that Indigenous Australians were finally to be acknowledged and that our Indigenous Australians should not be regarded as lesser citizens in their land.
“This resulted in Indigenous Australians counted in the census and the Commonwealth given formal power to make laws for Indigenous Australians.
“As the Prime Minister stated “we recall the bipartisan spirit in which it was carried. More importantly, we remember this as a campaign of grassroots democracy, a peoples’ campaign in which Indigenous and other Australians worked side by side.” Philip Ruddock said.
“This referendum was carried overwhelming and it was the most significant ever held in Australia and I well remember Neville Bonner when I first served as a Member of Parliament in 1973 back in the days of our old Parliament House as an outstanding Indigenous Australian and a fine MP.”
The 1967 referendum was a landmark in the forming Indigenous identity and it also helped bring many remarkable Indigenous people national prominence.