The changing of Australia's national anthem to denote the many years of Indigenous Australian inhabitation of the land does not go far enough to promote a unified national identity, according to a Charles Sturt University lecturer.
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Professor Dominic O'Sullivan argued replacing 'young and free' with 'one and free' in the anthem is a "symbolic" gesture that does not "add to freedom".
Instead, in the lead up to the contentious Australia Day celebrations, Professor O'Sullivan told The Daily Advertiser the way to build nationhood is to ensure every person has a political voice.
"The Indigenous people have said they want treaties and a guaranteed voice in parliament, that's reasonable and it will help democracy," he said.
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A good example of actively involving many cultural perspectives in parliament, Professor O'Sullivan said, exists in one of Australia's closest allied countries - his own native New Zealand.
"I'm from New Zealand. I'm Maori. I was always interested in the politics behind my mother land," Professor O'Sullivan said.
"It's taken for granted [in New Zealand] that there will always be a Maori voice where they want one."
When he immigrated to Australia in 2008 to take up a position at Charles Sturt University, Professor O'Sullivan was interested to see how Australian parliament functioned without a direct clause to promote an Indigenous voice.
In his recently released book, Sharing the Sovereign, he argues that Australia should look to introduce something that will act similarly to New Zealand's Treaty of Waitangi.
Introduced soon after the British arrived in New Zealand, Professor O'Sullivan said: "Maori people generally see the treaty as a solemn and enduring promise".
Among its principles, the treaty also heralds the need for Maori people to be given the "right to active participation in government", and it is this Professor O'Sullivan said, that is lacking in Australia.
"In Australia, politics was structured [at the time of colonisation] to specifically exclude Indigenous people," Professor O'Sullivan said.
"[But] democracy can be structured for everyone, recognising that everyone can participate, and everyone's participation is legitimate."