Defending Australia's reputation: How indigenous Australians won civil rights, part two

Abstract

This is the second of two articles concerned with the acquisition by Indigenous Australians of civil rights. The first article considered the background to the legislative changes that saw Indigenous people acquire two important civil rights at the Common‐ wealth level: the vote and access to social security. Here the analysis extends to consider the three other important civil rights ‘moments’ for Indigenous people at the Commonwealth level: the 1966 equal wage decision, the 1967 referendum and the passage of the Racial Discrimination Act in 1975. Consistent with the argument developed in the first article, two factors are crucial in understanding why these three civil rights developments occurred when they did: the pressure applied to governments by activists within Australia, and the ongoing international embarrassment caused to Australia by its continued breach of international human rights instruments.