Debra Jopson & Phillip Coorey

Sydney Morning Herald

Australian governments present a different face on the international stage from the one they show when dealing with indigenous people, the "father of reconciliation" Patrick Dodson said in Sydney last night.

Speaking five days after a fracas embroiling the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, he said: "I struggle with this hypocrisy, particularly when they seem happy to intervene in the affairs of other countries but become very defensive when criticised for their treatment of the first peoples of this land."

Mr Dodson was delivering the inaugural Gandhi Oration at the University of NSW. Mr Dodson defended the expert panel he co-chairs against criticism that it had gone too far in recommending changes to the race powers contained in the constitution to allow positive discrimination for indigenous people. He said there should be no referendum on it if politicians did not agree. "If there is no cross-party support for the proposition, it will more than likely fail," he said.

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