In December 2011, the Expert Panel on the Constitutional Recognition of Local Government recommended that a referendum be held to amend s 96 of the Commonwealth Constitution to allow the Commonwealth Parliament to make grants of financial assistance to ‘any local government body formed by State or Territory Legislation on such terms and conditions as...

This paper was presented as a lecture in the Senate Occasional Lecture Series at Parliament House, Canberra, on 5 August 2011. The address examines what might be the recipe for a successful referendum on constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Mick Dodson also discusses ways we might mix the ingredients of that...

This report covers the developments in the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for the 2010/2011 period. The theme of the report is lateral violence and its relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and how human rights frameworks can address this issue. Mick Gooda’s review focuses on developments relating to...

The independent Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Local Government was appointed in August 2011 by the Australian Government. The Panel was tasked with consulting the community on whether Australia's Constitution should be changed to include local government. The Panel consulted nationally and considered feedback it received from Australians before handing its report to Government...

The Australian Constitution, the nation’s founding political and legal document, was developed at a series of constitutional conventions in the 1890s and came into effect with the Federation of Australia in 1901. The Constitution sets the basic rules on how governments, and the different arms of government, operate in Australia. Due to historical circumstances, it...