The other most significant event affecting the reconciliation process in the lead up to the Olympics will be the referendum on the Republic, which is due to be held in 1999. This will also be a referendum on the insertion into the preamble of the Constitution of Australia, of a clause recognising indigenous Australians as the original inhabitants of this country. My fervent hope is that Australians will vote for a fair go as they did in 1967 and wholeheartedly support the inclusion of indigenous people in the Constitution. Urgent problems relating to indigenous disadvantage must be addressed. Indigenous people on remote communities where there are chronic alcohol problems are living in conditions not dissimilar to war zones.
Children are afraid to go to sleep at night for fear of violent physical or sexual assault.
Women are cowering in refuges surrounded by barbed wire and shot through with bullet holes. The Democrats are considering a Senate Inquiry into the crisis on remote indigenous communities. We urge all Australians to recognise the urgency of this problem and take decisive action. Native title is a cornerstone of reconciliation. If the Senate ticks off state native title regimes which raise the high jump bar impossibly high for native title claimants, it will bear responsibility for the continuing violence and despair infesting indigenous communities as they continue to exist on the fringes of their traditional land.