Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday)
Readings: Isaiah 35:1-6, 10; Psalm 145(146):6-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11
11 December 2022
Yet again, for the third Sunday of Advent, we have a stirring reading from the prophet Isaiah invoking the promise of justice which so often seems to be unachievable.
The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.
This is good news especially for those who have been cheated justice for so long – those who have had little real expectations that the wrongs of the past will be put right.
Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
LISTEN: https://soundcloud.com/frank-brennan-6/homily-111222
This past week, so much of the public debate about Indigenous recognition in our Constitution has gone pear-shaped, and with a mark of nastiness which is not only unbecoming but also unhelpful. If ever there was a public policy issue requiring a fresh dose of Advent hope, this is it. We all need to redouble our efforts to have our politicians return to a bipartisan approach, following the appropriate steps for a successful referendum. In light of Isaiah’s promise, I plead for a return to bipartisanship, parliamentary procedure and civil public discourse so that we might accord just constitutional recognition to Indigenous Australians.
Our leaders seem to have forgotten that most of their predecessors committed themselves to bipartisan cooperation on this issue for nine years between 2010 and 2018. Back in 2010, Julia Gillard led a re-elected Labor team to the election, but she needed to cut deals with the Greens and a couple of independents. Each of those deals included a commitment to a referendum on constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
Prime Minister Gillard set up an expert panel on Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution which included “members of Parliament from across the political spectrum”.[1] The terms of reference stated that the process required “collaboration with Parliamentarians from across the political spectrum”. [2]
In 2013, Julia Gillard worked closely with Tony Abbott as Leader of the Opposition for the unanimous passage through Parliament of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Recognition Act.
When Tony Abbott led the Coalition to victory, he committed himself to close cooperation with Bill Shorten, Leader of the Opposition, every inch of the way on this question. Malcolm Turnbull then did the same with Bill Shorten. They agreed on membership and process for the Referendum Council which finally reported in 2017. There was then a parliamentary committee set up to pursue the recommendations of the Referendum Council. The committee was co-chaired by Julian Leeser from the Liberal Party and the highly respected Father of Reconciliation, Patrick Dodson, from the Labor Party.
The terms of reference for the joint committee required that they “recommend options for constitutional change and any potential complementary legislative measures which meet the expectations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and which will secure cross party parliamentary support and the support of the Australian people”[3].
Dodson and Leeser wrote: “Beyond the poetry of the Statement from the Heart is the prose of political reality—the need to ensure that our recommendations provide for a form of constitutional recognition that is legitimate and acceptable to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as well as our parliamentary colleagues across the spectrum, and ultimately to the Australian people.”[4]
They went on to say: “Leaving aside any questions of the need to build further political consensus, it is difficult to proceed to referendum today on The Voice when this Committee has received no fewer than 18 different versions of constitutional amendments which might be put at a referendum.”[5]
Patrick Dodson is now the Albanese Government’s Special Envoy for Reconciliation and the Implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Julian Leeser is the Shadow Minister. The committee included as members Linda Burney and Malarndirri McCarthy who are now the Minister and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians.
Back in 2018, they all put their name to a report emphasising “the importance of cross-party support to achieve constitutional change.”[6]
They noted: “The fact that there are so many different provisions proposing to constitutionalise The Voice and that a new provision was suggested in a late submission received by the Committee on 3 November 2018, nearly two months after submissions had closed, indicates that neither the principle nor the specific wording of provisions to be included in the Constitution are settled. More work needs to be undertaken to build consensus on the principles, purpose and the text of any constitutional amendments.”[7] That’s been the last bipartisan utterance we’ve heard from our elected leaders.
These last four years, both sides of politics seem to have given up on bipartisan cooperation and due parliamentary process. There has been no further parliamentary cooperation “to build consensus on the principles, purpose and the text of any constitutional amendments”.
Labor won the May election with a strong commitment to the Uluru Statement, knowing that all three previous Liberal Prime Ministers had rejected the idea of a Voice being placed in the Constitution. At the Garma Festival in July, the Prime Minister unilaterally announced his intention to adopt the provision put forward in the late submission to the 2018 committee, proposing those words for insertion in the Constitution with a little non-transparent tweaking. For his part, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has sat back simply asking for more detail. Neither Albanese nor Dutton has reached across the aisle for the good of the country, which has now spent 15 years committed to constitutional recognition but with no agreement on the principles, purpose and text of any constitutional amendment.
In the lead up to Christmas, we all need to urge politicians on both sides of the parliamentary aisle to return to a bipartisan approach and a transparent parliamentary process for determining the proposed wording to be placed in the Constitution. The first step will be for the government to subject Mr Albanese’s Garma set of words to a rigorous parliamentary committee process so everyone can have their say.
If the proposal to be put to the people is to differ substantially from that recommended by the Referendum Council in 2017, it should be the result of a bipartisan parliamentary process. It’s time for Messrs Albanese and Dutton to show goodwill reaching across the aisle on this issue as did their predecessors Gillard and Abbott, Abbott and Shorten, Turnbull and Shorten. This might help avoid the repetition of the very unseemly, unhelpful remarks we’ve heard this past week from experienced people who know that hateful ad hominem remarks are not the building blocks of constitutional change. To amend the Australian Constitution, everyone needs to be assured that their voices have been respectfully heard. Let’s pray for all those giving voice to their views on the Voice.
R. Lord, come and save us.
The LORD God keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Lord, come and save us.
The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Lord, come and save us.
The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations.
R. Lord, come and save us.
Fr Frank Brennan SJ is the Rector of Newman College, Melbourne, and the former CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA). He was appointed a peritus at the Fifth Plenary Council of the Australian Catholic Church.
[1]Expert Panel on Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution, January 2012, p.2
[2] Ibid, p.3
[3] Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Final report, November 2018, Resolution of Appointment, p. xiii
[4] Ibid, p. vii
[5] Ibid, pp. viii-ix
[6] Ibid, p. 2, para 1.10
[7]Ibid, p. 118, para 3.143
