A recent address by the first Aboriginal minister for Aboriginal Australians to the National Press Club on possibly finding "common ground" for constutional reform was momentus. It got a lot of people thinking about new ideas, for the first time.

The following notes of "possible constitutional change" attempt to raise ideas & assist in the possibilities of broader debate, not to influence the outcome.

It is prepared in response to:

If we are looking at "referendum for change(s) to the constitution", all sorts of changes become a real possibility.

I have outlined just one of them, below.

Keep an open mind, you might find new ideas begin to emerge.

I have taken Part Two of the Constitution & made changes that "seek to give proper representation of Indigenous Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Parliament".

It naturally gives "the voters for Proper Representation" a voice, as the Senate is the "House Of Review" for all legislation, and for all actions of governance at the federal level.

Change = Insert Change = Remove,

To comply with Part II of the Constitution, each Region shall have a Council that looks after the whole of the River System and the Continental Shelf of that Region and each Council of a Region shall elect a Lord Mayor.

But until the Parliament of the Commonwealth otherwise provides, the Parliament of the State of Queensland, if that State be an Original State, may make laws dividing the State into divisions and determining the number of senators to be chosen for each division, and in the absence of such provision the State shall be one electorate.

Until the Parliament otherwise provides there shall be three senators for each Original Region. The Parliament may make laws increasing or diminishing the number of senators for each Region,⁵ but so that equal representation of the several Original Regions shall be maintained and that no Original Region shall have less than three senators.

The senators shall be chosen for a term of six years, and the names of the senators chosen for each Region shall be certified by each regional Lord Mayor to the Governor-General.

8. Qualification of electors

The qualification of electors of the first two senators shall be in each Region that which is prescribed by this Constitution, or by the Parliament, as the qualification for electors of members of the House of Representatives; but in the choosing of the first two senators each elector shall vote only once. In the choosing of the third senator the qualification of the electors shall be determined by the parliament to be all of the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples living in that region.

9. Method of election of senators

The Parliament of the Commonwealth may make laws prescribing the method of choosing senators, but so that the method shall be uniform for all the Regions. Subject to any such law, the Council of each Region may make laws⁶ prescribing the method of choosing the senators for that Region.

Times and places

The Council of a Region may make laws⁶ for determining the times and places of elections of senators for the Region.

10. Application of Regional laws

Until the Parliament otherwise provides, but subject to this Constitution, the laws in force in each Region, for the time being, relating to elections for the more numerous Councils of the Region shall, as nearly as practicable, apply to elections of senators for the Region.

11. Failure to choose senators

The Senate may proceed to the despatch of business, notwithstanding the failure of any Region to provide for its representation in the Senate.

12. Issue of writs

The Lord Mayor of any Region may cause writs to be issued for elections of senators for the Region. In case of the dissolution of the Senate the writs shall be issued within ten days from the proclamation of such dissolution.

13. Rotation of senators⁷

As soon as may be after the Senate first meets, and after each first meeting of the Senate following a dissolution thereof, the Senate shall divide the senators chosen for each Region into two classes, as nearly equal in number as practicable; and the places of the senators of the first class shall become vacant at the expiration of three years, and the places of those of the second class at the expiration of six years, from the beginning of their term of service; and afterwards the places of senators shall become vacant at the expiration of six years from the beginning of their term of service.

The election to fill vacant places shall be made within one year before the places are to become vacant.

For the purposes of this section the term of service of a senator shall be taken to begin on the first day of July following the day of his election, except in the cases of the first election and of the election next after any dissolution of the Senate, when it shall be taken to begin on the first day of July preceding the day of his election.

14. Further provision for rotation

Whenever the number of senators for a Region is increased or diminished, the Parliament of the Commonwealth may make such provision for the vacating of the places of senators for the Region as it deems necessary to maintain regularity in the rotation.⁸

15. Casual vacancies⁹

Subject to sections eight and sixteen of this constitution, if the place of a senator becomes vacant before the expiration of his term of service, the Council of the Region for which he was chosen sitting and voting together, or, if there is only one House of that Parliament, that House, shall choose a person to hold the place until the expiration of the term. But if the Council of the Region is not in session when the vacancy is notified, the Lord Mayor of the Region, with the advice of the Executive Council thereof may appoint a person to hold the place until the expiration of fourteen days from the beginning of the next session of the Council of the Region or the expiration of the term, whichever first happens.

Where a vacancy has at any time occurred in the place of a senator chosen by the people of a Region and, at the time when he was so chosen, he was publicly recognized by a particular political party as being an endorsed candidate of that party and publicly represented himself to be such a candidate, a person chosen or appointed under this section in consequence of that vacancy, or in consequence of that vacancy and a subsequent vacancy or vacancies, shall, unless there is no member of that party available to be chosen or appointed, be a member of that party.

Where:

1. in accordance with the last preceding paragraph, a member of a particular political party is chosen or appointed to hold the place of a senator whose place had become vacant; and
2. before taking his seat he ceases to be a member of that party (otherwise than by reason of the party having ceased to exist);

he shall be deemed not to have been so chosen or appointed and the vacancy shall be again notified in accordance with section twenty-one of this Constitution.

The name of any senator chosen or appointed under this section shall be certified by the Lord Mayor of the Region to the Governor-General.

If the place of a senator chosen by the people of a Region at the election of senators last held before the commencement of the Constitution Alteration (Senate Casual Vacancies) 1977 became vacant before that commencement and, at that commencement, no person chosen by the Council of the Region, or appointed by the Lord Mayor of the Region, in consequence of that vacancy, or in consequence of that vacancy and a subsequent vacancy or vacancies, held office, this section applies as if the place of the senator chosen by the people of the Region had become vacant after that commencement.

A senator holding office at the commencement of the Constitution Alteration (Senate Casual Vacancies) 1977, being a senator appointed by the Lord Mayor of a Region in consequence of a vacancy that had at any time occurred in the place of a senator chosen by the people of the Region, shall be deemed to have been appointed to hold the place until the expiration of fourteen days after the beginning of the next session of the Council of the Region that commenced or commences after he was appointed and further action under this section shall be taken as if the vacancy in the place of the senator chosen by the people of the Region had occurred after that commencement.

Subject to the next succeeding paragraph, a senator holding office at the commencement of the Constitution Alteration (Senate Casual Vacancies) 1977 who was chosen by the Council of a Region in consequence of a vacancy that had at any time occurred in the place of a senator chosen by the people of the Region shall be deemed to have been chosen to hold office until the expiration of the term of service of the senator elected by the people of the Region.

If, at or before the commencement of the Constitution Alteration (Senate Casual Vacancies) 1977, a law to alter the Constitution entitled "Constitution Alteration (Simultaneous Elections) 1977" came into operation,¹⁰ a senator holding office at the commencement of that law who was chosen by the Council of a Region in consequence of a vacancy that had at any time occurred in the place of a senator chosen by the people of the Region shall be deemed to have been chosen to hold office:

1. if the senator elected by the people of the Region had a term of service expiring on the thirtieth day of June, One thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight – until the expiration or dissolution of the first House of Representatives to expire or be dissolved after that law came into operation; or
2. if the senator elected by the people of the Region had a term of service expiring on the thirtieth day of June, One thousand nine hundred and eighty-one – until the expiration or dissolution of the second House of Representatives to expire or be dissolved after that law came into operation; or, if there is an earlier dissolution of the Senate, until that dissolution.

16. Qualifications of senator

The qualifications of the first two senators of a Region shall be the same as those of a member of the House of Representatives. The qualifications of the third senator of that Region shall be determined by the Senate Permanent Committee for Indigenous Representation after approval by the Elders of the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples in that Region.

17. Election of President

The Senate shall, before proceeding to the despatch of any other business, choose a senator to be the President of the Senate; and as often as the office of President becomes vacant the Senate shall again choose a senator to be the President.

The President shall cease to hold his office if he ceases to be a senator. He may be removed from office by a vote of the Senate, or he may resign his office or his seat by writing addressed to the Governor-General.

18. Absence of President

Before or during any absence of the President, the Senate may choose a senator to perform his duties in his absence.

19. Resignation of senator

A senator may, by writing addressed to the President, or to the Governor-General if there is no President or if the President is absent from the Commonwealth, resign his place, which thereupon shall become vacant.

20. Vacancy by absence

The place of a senator shall become vacant if for two consecutive months of any session of the Parliament he, without the permission of the Senate, fails to attend the Senate.

21. Vacancy to be notified

Whenever a vacancy happens in the Senate, the President, or if there is no President or if the President is absent from the Commonwealth the Governor-General, shall notify the same to the Lord Mayor of the Region in the representation of which the vacancy has happened.

22. Quorum

Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the presence of at least one-third of the whole number of the senators shall be necessary to constitute a meeting of the Senate for the exercise of its powers.

23. Voting in Senate

Questions arising in the Senate shall be determined by a majority of votes, and each senator shall have one vote.