Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 12 November
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Terra nullius was long ago exposed as a myth – and this was enshrined in law with the Mabo case in 1992.
If we acknowledge that Australia was colonised on a lie, then what should we do about it? How do we compensate for that centuries-old theft? It’s too late to reverse, but official recognition of the sovereign rights of Indigenous Australians is well overdue. True reconciliation between Indigenous and immigrant Australians is impossible without addressing past wrongs – you can’t heal a wound without treating it. But how do we do that? Many believe that a treaty is essential – our neighbour New Zealand and contemporary Canada have established treaties, recognised by the UN. Others think it’s enough to implement constitutional change that recognises indigenous cultures, languages and peoples.
We’ll debate the need for a treaty – and the way to achieve true reconciliation – with a passionate panel of experts.
Chaired by Wheeler Centre director Michael Williams.
Speaking for the proposition:
- Professor George Williams AO: leading constitutional lawyer and public commentator, professor of law at the University of New South Wales, former High Court barrister, columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald.
- Mark Yettica-Paulson: leadership facilitator specialising in engagement and partnership with Indigenous Australia.
- Professor Mick Dodson AM: director of the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at the Australian National University, Professor of law at the ANU College of Law, and 2009 Australian of the Year.
Speaking against the proposition:
- Professor Peter Sutton: author, anthropologist and linguist, affiliate professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Adelaide and the Division of Anthropology at the South Australian Museum.
- Tony Birch: author of the Miles Franklin-shortlisted novel Blood and other books; writing teacher with an interest in community outreach.
- Gregory Phillips: medical anthropologist, executive director ABSTARR Consulting, adjunct senior lecturer in Aboriginal Health at Monash University and co-founder of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation.
Tweet at this event: #iq2oz
Intelligence Squared Debates
The Wheeler Centre and St James Ethics Centre combine again in 2013 to bring you a brand new series of Intelligence Squared debates.
Established in 2002, IQ2 has spread across the globe, bringing the traditional form of Cambridge and Oxford Unions-style debating – with two sides proposing and opposing a sharply formed motion – to Melbourne Town Hall.
Featuring
Peter Sutton
Peter Sutton is an author, anthropologist and linguist, and an Affiliate Professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Adelaide, and the Division of Anthropology at the South Australian Museum.
He has lived and worked with Aboriginal people in remote, urban and rural Australia since 1969, especially in Cape York Peninsula and the Northern Territory. He has assisted with over sixty indigenous land claim cases since the 1970s.
Peter is also the author or editor of thirteen books and has published many papers, mainly in the fields of Aboriginal languages, visual arts, land tenure, history and indigenous policy. His most recent book is The Politics of Suffering: Indigenous Australia and the end of the Liberal Consensus (2009).
George Williams
George Williams AO is the Anthony Mason Professor and a Scientia Professor, as well as a Deputy Vice Chancellor, at UNSW. He was a member of the Australian government’s Constitutional Expert Group that advised on the wording of the Voice referendum and is an author with Megan Davis of Everything You Need to Know About the Voice. His other books include Australian Constitutional Law and Theory, The Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia and How to Rule Your Own Country: The Weird and Wonderful World of Micronations. He has appeared as a barrister in the High Court of Australia and is a columnist for The Australian.
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Mick Dodson
Professor Mick Dodson is a member of the Yawuru peoples – the traditional owners of land and waters in the Broome area of the southern Kimberley region of Western Australia. He is director of the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at the Australian National University and professor of law at the ANU College of Law.
Dodson is also currently a director of Dodson, Bauman & Associates Pty Ltd – Legal & Anthropological Consultants. He is formerly the director of the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of New South Wales, Kensington.
He was Australia’s first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner with the Human Rights Commission. He served as commissioner from April 1993 to January 1998. In 2009, he was named Australian of the Year by the National Australia Day Council.
Mark Yettica-Paulson
Mark Yettica-Paulson is an Australian Indigenous man from southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales. Mark is the founder and director of The Yettica Group, specialising in Indigenous leadership and intercultural facilitation.
Mark is a founding member of the National Indigenous Youth Movement of Australia (NIYMA). Mark is also an associate of Reos Partners and a Leadership Program Mentor for Desert Knowledge Australia.
In 2009 Mark was recognised by the Australian as one of the top 100 emerging leaders in Australia. In 2010 Mark won The Grand Final of the ABC’s Strictly Speaking, recognising him as one of the top public speakers in Australia.
Mark currently works with the Australian Football League, the Australian Football League Players’ Association, Australian Post, Desert Knowledge Australia, Reos Partners and Social Leadership Australia. Mark volunteers his leadership expertise in local schools, church and community leadership work and an Emerging Youth Leadership Program in Victoria.
Michael Williams
Michael Williams is the editor of The Monthly. He was previously the Artistic Director of Sydney Writers’ Festival. He has spent the past decade at the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas in Melbourne as its ...
Gregory Phillips
Gregory Phillips is from the Waanyi and Jaru peoples, and comes from Cloncurry and Mount Isa. He is a medical anthropologist, with thirty years’ experience in leading change in cultural safety, healing and decolonisation.
Gregory is Chief Executive Officer of ABSTARR Consulting, is a Professor of First People’s Health, and serves on several boards and committees, including chairing the Ebony Institute, the Cathy Freeman Foundation and AHPRA’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health strategy group.
Tony Birch
Tony Birch is the author of four novels, five short fiction collections, and two poetry books. His most recent book is the novel, Women and Children (UQP).
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