Australia's Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, has "slapped down ambitions for a new indigenous representative body to have legislative powers".

A woman under male supervision, explaining to a community with an ancient tradition of women's and men's business, that a Parliament, convened under a Constitution which prohibits women's legislatures, prohibits indigenous legislatures, is truly bizarre.

Negotiations should resume when Australia's Constitution is reformed to provide a rational basis from which to proceed.

30 December, 2008