Australians shouldn't run screaming when a treaty with indigenous people is mentioned, Labor leader Bill Shorten says.
Constitutional recognition of indigenous Australians was on the agenda at the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land this weekend, with some advocating for a treaty instead and others calling for indigenous groups to settle individually with the government.
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Victoria making progress on an Indigenous treaty
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner Mick Gooda said he didn't believe Australia would be ready for a referendum by next May, the 50th anniversary of the historic 1967 referendum.
Mr Shorten said May remained his preference, but the referendum council was taking longer to consult, which could affect timing.
But a successful referendum wouldn't be a panacea, he told reporters in Arnhem Land.
"It shouldn't be beyond the wit and wisdom of our nation to be able to recognise our first Australians in the nation's official birth certificate, but that is not in and of itself going to resolve every issue of the last 200 years," he said.
Commission needs indigenous input: Dodson
Labor wants the royal commission into youth detention in the NT to have Aboriginal commissioners and a broader scope.
There's unlikely to be justice for indigenous youth in detention unless indigenous people can be directly involved in the royal commission, Labor senator Pat Dodson says.
The federal opposition wants two indigenous Australians to preside over the royal commission into youth detention in the Northern Territory alongside the government's appointee Brian Ross Martin.
Labor leader Bill Shorten on Sunday repeated calls for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to personally head to the NT to discuss the inquiry with indigenous communities.
"For a lot of Aboriginal people, this royal commission will be a far less credible venture if they're not being consulted with, listened to, if we don't have an (indigenous) man and a woman as co-commissioners," he told reporters at the territory's Garma festival.
Senator Dodson said Justice Martin wouldn't be able to cover all matters in the terms of reference on his own.
"Unfortunately, if it's just left to one commissioner without any knowledge of the culture and the social norms or the backgrounds of these families, then it's going to be very difficult for him to do justice to them," the indigenous leader told ABC TV on Sunday.
But that looks unlikely to happen, with the Turnbull government saying it won't be taking advice from Labor on the shape of the royal commission.
"We are keen that this royal commission gets under way very quickly and that's why it is so targeted," Special Minister of State Scott Ryan told Sky News on Sunday, rejecting the idea of additional commissioners.
Senator Dodson is also calling for NT Chief Minister Adam Giles to be subpoenaed to appear before the commission and for him to be removed from its deliberations.
The royal commission was prompted by ABC's Four Corners airing footage of prison officers in the Don Dale centre abusing teenagers in their charge.
The footage showed young boys being stripped naked, tear-gassed and held in solitary confinement.
Speaking at the Garma festival in northeast Arnhem Land, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner Mick Gooda said the footage had left Australians shocked at the level of violence that Aboriginal people "almost take for granted".
Mr Gooda said the royal commission must look at the role of race as well as the actions of the guards at the Don Dale detention centre.
He said police should act immediately to charge the officers.
Aboriginal people 'take abuse for granted'
Aboriginal people almost take for granted the level of abuse depicted in footage of young boys being
mistreated at Darwin's Don Dale detention centre, says Mick Gooda.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner made the comments at the Garma festival in northeast Arnhem Land on Sunday.
"Australia is shocked at the level of violence that us Aboriginal people almost take for granted," Mr Gooda said.
"What we have seen is in part the consequences of people thinking their conduct is not required to meet the standards and will not be held accountable for their actions. This must change.
"This week we've entered one of our prisons and what we saw not only questions our civilisation, it questions our humanity."
He says the royal commission announced by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week must look at the role of race, as well as the action of the guards at Don Dale.
He also urged the inclusion of Aboriginal people in finding solutions to the problem.
"This royal commission must deliver more than a set of recommendations that remains on a shelf like so many reports of royal commissions and inquiries that have been done in the past," Mr Gooda said.
