The constitution was recently mentioned in a national Indigenous publication.

Specifically, former Australian of the year, Mick Dodson, was quoted as saying that he wants the constitution to acknowledge that Australia was taken without the consent of Aboriginal people. With that claim, I thought it might be appropriate to consider the debate about whether or not the constitution should be changed to respect the wishes of some Aboriginal people.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) has produced the Recognition of Indigenous people in the Australian Constitution position statement in support of ongoing efforts by Indigenous organisations to give formal recognition to Indigenous people in the Australian Constitution.

Is it time for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to be acknowledged in the Australian Constitution? The man leading that charge certainly thinks so and is pushing for a referendum to be heard before his five-year term is up.

THE national push to gain constitutional recognition of indigenous peoples will gather momentum in Warrnambool tomorrow.

A 20-strong panel appointed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been travelling across the country to gauge opinions and stimulate talks on the initiative, which has the in-principle support of the government and opposition.

Illawarra Aboriginal people have embraced the chance to have their say on whether Australia should update its constitution to recognise the first Australians.

The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Cassy O’Connor, today congratulated Tasmania’s Youth Parliamentarians for pushing for recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Constitution. Ms O’Connor said a wide variety of subjects had been debated in this year’s Youth Parliament session, and it was encouraging to see support for the nation’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

CALLS for autonomy in the Torres Strait are being heard far and wide after elders and community leaders raised the issue in no uncertain terms at a recent Community Cabinet meeting. They placed the issue of self-governance fairly and squarely at the forefront of the political arena in the public meeting on Thursday Island on Sunday, August 28.

You might be surprised to learn that our Constitution – the founding legal document of the country - makes no mention of Australia’s first peoples and continues to include a possibility of discrimination on the basis of race.

Hundreds of ideas on constitutional reform, gathered from Indigenous communities during a recent recreation of Charles Perkins' 1965 Freedom Ride, were today presented to a government advisory panel as part of an event at the University of Sydney.

CONSTITUTION fanciers were in a tizz yesterday when it was announced 16 and 17-year-old teens would be allowed to vote in a NT election next year an Australian first.

Not the general Northern Territory Government elections, mind you. They can enrol with the Electoral Commission and vote and stand as candidates in the elections for delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

The elections are in March, and are compulsory for people 18 and over.