Patricia Karvelas

The Australian

The father of reconciliation, Pat Dodson, has declared racial discrimination should be removed from the nation's Constitution, as voters are asked to support the creation of a new power to legislate for the "advancement" of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

In the most far-reaching constitutional change proposed in almost 50 years, The Australian can reveal that the panel charged with advising the Gillard government on how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders should be acknowledged in the nation's founding document believes that, while racial discrimination sections should be removed, many laws affecting Aborigines would collapse if a new power to allow for Aboriginal advancement was not created in their place. Sources have told The Australian that the new power would come with its own introduction acknowledging indigenous Australians.

Section 51(xxvi) of the Constitution is the "race power" that allows the Commonwealth to legislate in regard to "any race for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws".

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