Mark Liebler

Sydney Morning Herald

The Australian constitution must abandon the 19th century idea that Aboriginal people's identity is based on race.

Racism turns your life into a lottery. It reduces your ability to control your destiny or make decisions for yourself. To stay or go becomes a matter of life or death.

Racism condemned my maternal grandparents to being murdered at Auschwitz. In 1939, it drove my parents from Belgium and the Nazis to find sanctuary in Australia.

My family has never forgotten our debt to Australia. We owe our freedom, prosperity and the very lives of our children and grandchildren to this country: one of the most peaceful and democratic nations in the world. But racism doesn't just belong in another place or time. It casts a shadow here in Australia because it is still part of our nation's constitution.

Our constitution came into force 112 years ago when people in the six Australian colonies voted to come together to form a nation. While the constitution has served the majority of Australians well, it has not done this for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. As far as the constitution is concerned they are invisible: no mention of their heritage and cultures; no mention of their place as the first inhabitants of this country and as the world's oldest continuing cultures.

How did this happen? Because the constitution, understandably, reflects the values and beliefs of the time it was drafted. The founding fathers deserve our gratitude and respect. But their perspectives - including those on race - were of the 19th century, not the 21st.

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