IPA and Race Provisions in Constitution

In Pauline Hanson unleashes on airlines over mid-flight Welcome to Country speeches, the IPA is quoted in such a way to give the impression that it is ignorant of the Australian Constitution.

The right-wing think tank the Institute for Public Affairs said any Indigenous voice to parliament was “a divisive ideology based on race” and that “race has no place in the Australian Constitution”.

Emphasis Mine

This quote would lead the reader to believe that the IPA is ignorant of the race-based provsions in the Australian Constitution. This is not so as the full IPA news release shows:

“Reports that Prime Minister Scott Morrison would veto a divisive indigenous-only ‘voice to parliament’ represents a win for the principle that all Australians are equal,” said Daniel Wild, Director of Research at the free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs.

“This position affirms the democratic values on which Australia was founded. The Australian Constitution should treat all Australian citizens as individuals, with equal rights and equal responsibilities.”

“This represents a repudiation of a divisive ideology based on race. Race has no place in the Australian Constitution.”

“If the government chooses to pursue any changes to the constitution it should remove the provisions that currently refer to race — section 25, and section 51 (xxvi),” said Mr Wild.

Emphasis Mine

The quoted sections are:

25 Provision as to races disqualified from voting

For the purposes of the last section, if by the law of any State all persons of any race are disqualified from voting at elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of the State, then, in reckoning the number of the people of the State or of the Commonwealth, persons of that race resident in that State shall not be counted.

…

51 Legislative powers of the Parliament

The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to:

…

(xxvi) the people of any race, other than the aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws;

There is a contradiction in the IPA statement—Australia was founded as a racist state. This is shown by the two (2) parts of the constitution.

The repeal of section 51 (xxvi) would imperil all or part of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 because that act relies on that section among others for its authority:

AND WHEREAS it is desirable, in pursuance of all relevant powers of the Parliament, including, but not limited to, its power to make laws with respect to external affairs, with respect to the people of any race for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws and with respect to immigration, to make the provisions contained in this Act for the prohibition of racial discrimination and certain other forms of discrimination and, in particular, to make provision for giving effect to the Convention:

Emphasis Mine

Section 51 (xxvi) is problematic as it can be either used to persecute a race or to redress past wrongs done to a race. The section's very nature is discriminatory, but that should not be used to remove the section from the constitution.

A recent example was the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007 which was directed at aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.