During the 2013 election campaign Tony Abbott made a promise to hold a referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian Constitution. A referendum is supported by both the Australian government and the Labor opposition. In March 2015 Senator David Leyonhjelm gave a speech in which he rejected the call for reform to constitutionally recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Following this speech Marcia Langton, chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne, agreed to interview Senator Leyonhjelm about his position on constitutional recognition. The interview took place in June 2015 and an edited transcript appears here.

Marcia Langton: First, tell us a bit about yourself; there are various versions of your biography and they wildly differ.