Sydney Law School endorses Uluru Statement
The University of Sydney Law School鈥檚 Board has voted to formally support the .
Delivered in May 2017 at the National Constitutional Convention, the Statement is a 鈥榟istoric offering of peace鈥� that calls for the establishment of a 鈥楩irst Nations Voice鈥� in the Australian Constitution.
Sydney Law School Statement sponsors Associate Professor Jacqui Mowbray and Dr Emily Hammond said: 鈥淲e are delighted the School has adopted this resolution. The Statement of the Heart is the first step to rethinking our legal order, and the place of First Nations peoples within it. We are proud that the School, beyond the advocacy of individuals, is the epitome of 鈥榣eadership for good鈥�.鈥�
Dean, Sydney Law School, Professor Simon Bronitt, said that as the head of a community of scholars devoted to combatting injustice, the School鈥檚 adoption of the resolution was vital. It was further supported by the University鈥檚 Indigenous聽Strategy and Services Committee.
University of Sydney Vice Chancellor and Principal Professor Stephen Garton said he welcomed the Law School鈥檚 resolution: 鈥淲e strongly encourage our community to express their views and, as an institution, have fully committed to聽embracing our Indigenous culture and supporting social justice.鈥�
Beyond a moral imperative to 鈥榚xpress concern鈥egarding the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples鈥�, including under legal frameworks, Law School academics said that the Statement recognises First Nations people鈥檚 right to self-determination under international law.
鈥淎boriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and that sovereignty was never ceded or extinguished and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown,鈥� members of the Law School Board said.
The Board also emphasised the contribution legal scholars could make to Makarrata 鈥� 鈥榗oming together after a struggle鈥�. Included in the Uluru Statement, this process could inform the creation of agreements between governments and First Nations and encourage processes of truth-telling.
聽鈥淲e call on the Commonwealth government to endorse the Uluru Statement from the Heart, to take action to enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the Australian Constitution, and to establish a Makarrata Commission, as Australia鈥檚 First Nations People have requested,鈥� the Board resolved.