A successful referendum on the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may once have looked like a fairly good prospect. The failure of the founders to make any mention of Aboriginal people in the Constitution seemed self-evidently in need of correction, the proposal enjoyed bipartisan support in a parliament that could agree on little else, and, in the person of Tony Abbott, it found a prime minister who said he was willing to…
Liberalism is generally taken to support a political order which is both individualistic, in that individuals are regarded as the ultimate units of moral worth, and egalitarian, since every individual has an equal moral status. Accordingly, it would appear to stand opposed to any attempts to either privilege the interests of communities over those of individuals, or to afford certain groups of citizens special rights and privileges. Is this how you read the liberal tradition?
