Is a referendum the best method of bringing about change in Australia?
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With Bendigo residents set to vote within weeks to change the constitution and allow an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament, it is timely that question will be the subject of an upcoming lecture.
Leading constitutional law expert Professor Emerita Anne Twomey will speak at the Sir John Quick lecture at Bendigo's Capital theatre on Tuesday, September 5.
In the footsteps of John Quick
The lecture will examine whether referendums are still the best method of giving the Australian people a voice in constitutional change, set in the context of the latest question being asked of whether to enshrine an Aboriginal Voice to Parliament.
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Associate Dean of learning and teaching at the Bendigo La Trobe law school, Dr Madeline Chiam said the event would also pay homage to former Bendigo politician Sir John Quick, a giant in the Australian federation movement.
"The lecture itself is in honour of Sir John Quick who was one of the founders of Australia's federation and was indeed one of the leading men who proposed that our constitution should be changed by referendum," she said.
"It seems appropriate in the year where we are having the first referendum in 24 years to have a public lecture on the referendum question giving by one of Australia's leading constitutional lawyers, Anne Twomey.
"(Professor Twomey) will be speaking about the history of referenda in Australia ... asking the question how a referendum works to change the constitution and what it means to give the power of constitutional change to the people rather than the parliament."
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Is the Voice compatible with the constitution?
The lecture will aim to answer two questions - what does the referendum on an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice tell us about the effectiveness of the referendum process today?; and is the Voice compatible with the constitution that Quick was involved in drafting during the 1890s?
Anyone interested in learning about constitutional change and the laws surrounding it are invited to the event.
The lecture will take place from 6pm and 7.30pm at the Capital Theatre in Bendigo.
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