Racial discrimination is when a person or a group of people is singled out and treated differently because of how they look or because of their culture. All of the states and territories have laws and policies to stop racial discrimination. Also, a national law called the Racial Discrimination Act makes it against the law to discriminate against someone because of their race, colour or where they come from. But the Constitution does not stop the Australian Parliament from making laws that discriminate against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. One idea is to put a new section in the Constitution to stop the Australian Parliament from discriminating against people of any race or culture. Another idea is to include words about discrimination in a new power for the Australian Parliament to make laws about Indigenous peoples. Either way, the goal would be to make sure that the Australian Parliament’s laws do not discriminate against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Question 1:
Do you think that a guarantee against racial discrimination should go into the Constitution?
Question 2:
Do you have any ideas about what words to use for that guarantee, or where in the Constitution to put it?
Question 3:
Should the guarantee protect all Australians against racial discrimination, or only Indigenous Australians?
Question 4:
If there is not enough support for a guarantee in the Constitution, what other things can we do to stop racial discrimination in national laws?
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