Mr WETTENHALL (Barron River-ALP) (23 February 2010, 3.48 pm): I rise to support the Constitution (Preamble) Amendment Bill 2009. In so doing, I acknowledge the traditional owners and elders of all of the lands throughout Queensland. There could be no more appropriate time to be considering the insertion of a preamble into our Constitution than as we celebrate and reflect on the 150 years since Queensland separated from the colony of New South Wales.
Over that time, and for many years before it, since white settlement in this state, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have suffered great deprivations, great discrimination and, as a result of those unfortunate circumstances, to this day endure great disadvantage compared with many other members of our society. That entrenched disadvantage presents to this government and to other governments throughout Australia some of the most significant and formidable challenges in public policy to overcome.

Yet we can look back over the past 150 years and beyond, since white settlement in Queensland, and gain from the lessons of history some sense of optimism and confidence that over the next 150 years improvements will be made to the living standards and the quality of life of Indigenous people in this state.

That, to me, is really what this preamble is all about. It is an acknowledgement of history but it is also a statement of optimism and confidence about the future. It is particularly surprising, but more so particularly disappointing, that the opposition in this debate has not found it within its heart to approach this
issue in a bipartisan manner. There are from time to time opportunities when this parliament has issues before it of importance that warrant a bipartisan approach. I cannot think of one that would have been more suited to that than this Constitution (Preamble) Amendment Bill.

Let us look at the words. The preamble proposed to be inserted into the Constitution states-
The people of Queensland, free and equal citizens of Australia-
(a) intend through this Constitution to foster the peace, welfare and good government of Queensland; and
(b) adopt the principle of the sovereignty of the people, under the rule of law, and the system of representative and responsible
government, prescribed by this Constitution; and
(c) honour the Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the First Australians, whose lands, winds and waters we all now share; and pay tribute to their unique values, and their ancient and enduring cultures, which deepen and enrich the life of our community; and
(d) determine to protect our unique environment; and
(e) acknowledge the achievements of our forebears, coming from many backgrounds, who together faced and overcame adversity and injustice, and whose efforts bequeathed to us, and future generations, a realistic opportunity to strive for social harmony; and
(f) resolve, in this the 150th anniversary year of the establishment of Queensland, to nurture our inheritance, and build a society based on democracy, freedom and peace.

I cannot in any of those words find cause for controversy or division. It is to me absolutely extraordinary that in the debate we are having in this place today members of the opposition have illustrated I think such a high degree of small-mindedness and mean-spiritedness that has prevented them from embracing in a bipartisan way that wholly uncontroversial set of words that reflect on our history and offer a framework for confidence and optimism to improve the living standards and the quality of life of all Queenslanders into the future.

Had we been having this debate 15 years ago, or 20 years ago, or 30 years ago, perhaps I and many other Queenslanders would not have been surprised if members of the Liberal and National parties had come into this place and opposed a form of words like that. But in 2010 I have to say that I am utterly
surprised and utterly disappointed and to a certain extent despondent that members of the opposition would find in those words cause for argument.

There is nothing in those words that ought to be controversial. They are a unifying set of words. They are an expression of a wholly uncontroversial
aspiration on behalf of all the people of Queensland.

How is it that people on that side cannot find it in their hearts to reflect on the history that has caused so much pain and so much heartache in this state? How is it that they cannot reflect on the numerous instances throughout our history where we have painted out the very existence of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people in this state and where many different legal fictions, prejudicial programs and acts of discrimination have sought intentionally or unintentionally, with good intentions or bad, to extinguish the very existence, the very memory, of Indigenous people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in this state?

This is one small, simple step that we can take to etch forever in the memory of our people and etch forever in the consciousness of our young people who will come to study this Constitution and reflect on our history and reflect on the contribution not only that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have
made to this great state but that people who have come from all corners of the world and have settled here over the past 200 years have made. Isn't that a lesson for our young people that is worthwhile learning?

Why can the people of this state, particularly our young people, not turn to our Constitution and get a little bit more than a dry lesson in constitutional law and the institutional frameworks that govern our parliament-the three arms of
government in this state?

Why can they not turn to our Constitution and have before them an expression of the aspirations of the people and an acknowledgement of the first Australians, who, after all, have been the custodians of this land since time immemorial and as a result of their custodianship we all enjoy the standard of living that we do today?

It is absolutely extraordinary that those simple lessons of history and that simple ideal for our younger generation to be able to turn to our Constitution and find in it an expression of the aspirations of these people is sought to be denied by this small-minded and meanspirited and cold-hearted approach of members of the opposition.

Not only does this preamble acknowledge what is right and proper in acknowledging the first Australians; but it also of course acknowledges the contribution, as I have indicated, that people from all corners of the world have made to our great state. It is a great credit to them all, past and present, that we now enjoy a society in Queensland that fortunately is characterised in the main by tolerance.

That is not to deny that there have not been-including as a result of debates had in this place and laws passed by this parliament-programs and laws that in their intent and in their implementation have had discriminatory effects.

I do believe that the Queensland of 2010 is a more tolerant place than the Queensland of 150 years ago. I would have thought that members of the opposition would have been able to recognise and acknowledge that we have changed. I thought that they might have on this occasion dragged themselves
out of the 1950s mentality within which they find themselves trapped in this debate and on others that we have had in this place just past, but sadly that has proved not to be the case.

Sadly, the LNP and its leaders have failed to grasp the opportunity that this historic bill has presented to this parliament to adopt a bipartisan approach toward the recognition of first Australians and the contributions that people from all over the world have made to our state. What an opportunity it would have been.

It is my belief that, in order to face the challenges of improving the living standards and the quality of life of all people, but particularly those most vulnerable and most disadvantaged in our society, and regrettably amongst them are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we must acknowledge the wrongs of the past and we must acknowledge the realities of history. They were the first Australians.

Included in the preamble I think is a very important and complementary form of words in relation to our determination to protect our unique environment. When white settlers first came to Queensland and to Australia, they looked upon a land that had been cared for by generation upon generation upon generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The many nations throughout Australia of Indigenous people through a complex set of laws, customs, traditions and practices had built up a vast knowledge of
how to manage the land.

We need only reflect for a moment on the great legacy that Indigenous people have bequeathed all settlers in this country over the past 200-odd years. It is to them that we owe our standard of living today. They did not wreck, pillage and destroy the land on which they and their families depended over countless generations.

We arrived in this place on a vast continent in virtually pristine condition. Only now, or only perhaps in the last 20 years, are we beginning to appreciate the importance of protecting our environment.

It is an issue, particularly for young people, that is very important. We are in the midst of a debate that is taking place around the world on climate change and how important it is that we take steps to avoid catastrophic climate change that will change forever the planet on which we live.

When we are listening to that debate and taking part in those conversations, I think it is timely that we reflect on the custodianship of this land that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have bequeathed to us-and the knowledge that they still have and still practice from which we still have much to learn.

That is why that form of words is so important. It reflects what I believe to be an almost universal aspiration of Queensland's people-the protection of our environment. That above all other things is what life depends on. It is also what the future prosperity and the future wellbeing of our society in Queensland
depend on. If we do not protect our environment and if we do not provide an opportunity for our young people to look in our Constitution for strong statements about these things, then we have failed and we leave open the prospect to deviate from that course at the expense of future generations.

I congratulate the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council for aiding the Law, Justice and Safety Committee in its work in recommending to government and to the parliament the form of words to be inserted in this preamble. I think that all of us in this place at one time or another have been involved in a committee where we have been asked to contribute our ideas about a form of words, whether it be to a resolution or to a piece of correspondence. We can all have ideas about which words might be better
than others, but I think the committee has done a very good job in coming up with this set of words.

I think it is a set of words that will add immensely to our sense of pride in our achievements and in our potential to achieve even more in the future. For that reason, I commend the bill to the House.