The Voice & The Constitution | Professor Nicholas Aroney

As Australia prepares to vote in a referendum on a constitutionally enshrined First Nations Voice to Parliament, John sits down with one of Australia's foremost experts on constitutional law for a detailed analysis of what the Voice is likely to be, what it means for the Australian Constitution and system of representational government and what the implications of changing the Constitution to accomodate the Voice could be.

It may not be widely understood that any change to Australia's Constitution, especially one as significant as the Voice, has the potential to have far reaching implications on many aspects of government, the law, parliamentary democracy and more. This conversation is a contribution to the reasoned public debate that must surely take place as the referendum draws closer.

Nicholas Aroney is Professor of Constitutional Law at The University of Queensland and an External Fellow of the Centre for Law and Religion at Emory University. He has held visiting positions at Oxford, Cambridge, Paris II, Edinburgh, Durham, Sydney, Emory and Tilburg universities.

Professor Aroney has published over 150 journal articles, book chapters and books in the fields of constitutional law, comparative constitutional law and legal theory. He has led several international research projects in comparative federalism, bicameralism, legal pluralism, and law & religion, and he speaks frequently at international conferences on these topics.

Professor Aroney is a former editor of The University of Queensland Law Journal (2003-2005) and International Trade and Business Law Annual (1996-1998), and a past secretary of the Australian Society of Legal Philosophy. He is a past member of the Governing Council and the current Co-Convenor of the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Association of Constitutional Law. He is also a member of the editorial advisory board of the American Journal of Jurisprudence, Public Law Review, Australian Journal of Law and Religion and International Trade and Business Law Review. He has made numerous influential submissions to government and parliamentary inquiries and in 2013 undertook a review of the Crime and Misconduct Act for the Queensland Government with the Hon Ian Callinan AC QC, a former Justice of the High Court of Australia. In 2017 he was appointed by the Australian Prime Minister to an Expert Panel to advise on whether Australian law adequately protects the human right to freedom of religion.

Purchase Prof. Aroney's book Christianity and Constitutionalism here: https://global.oup.com/academic/produ...

#thevoicetoparliament #australianreferendum
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00:00 Intro
00:48 Introducing Prof. Aroney
02:25 What is the Australian Constitution?
07:08 A good constitution acknowledges human nature
09:55 The principle of subsidiarity
14:46 The difference between 'the tribe' and 'the nation state'
20:36 What is the Voice to Parliament?
29:10 The Uluru Statement from the Heart
42:00 Why isn't there more detail on what the Voice is?
48:20 How can the Australian Constitution be changed?
51:58 Is the Voice to the Parliament or to the Executive?
1:02:40 Is the Constitution a 'racist' document?
1:12:26 Potential pitfalls
1:17:50 The problem of representation
1:23:55 Conclusions
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