Central Land Council

Before the Barunga Declaration, there was the Barunga Statement, and Hawke's promise of Treaty

Retrieved on: 
Friday, June 23, 2023
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This week at Parliament House during Barunga Festival, four NT Land Council representatives presented Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with the Barunga Declaration.

Key Points: 
  • This week at Parliament House during Barunga Festival, four NT Land Council representatives presented Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with the Barunga Declaration.
  • Signed by the four NT Land Council representatives, the declaration calls on Australians to vote “yes” in the upcoming referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
  • NT Land Council representatives Dr Samuel Bush-Blanasi (Northern Land Council), Matthew Palmer (Central Land Council), Gibson Farmer Illortaminni (Tiwi Land Council) and Thomas Amagula (Anindilyakwa Land Council) brought the Barunga Declaration to Parliament House.

Treaty ’88 and the Barunga Statement

    • The Barunga Statement was the outcome of years of careful deliberation and discussion.
    • It was delivered from “the Indigenous owners and occupiers of Australia”, requesting the Australian government legislate for national land rights and begin treaty negotiations.
    • It also called for laws for a national elected Aboriginal body, and recognition of customary law by police and justice systems.
    • The Barunga Statement was presented during a time where there were increasing calls for a treaty.
    • The Treaty ’88 campaign declared that Australia was invaded by a foreign power with no treaty.

‘Treaty by 1990’

    • However, others have highlighted the reconciliation movement’s departure from treaty.
    • Playwright Wesley Enoch and actress Deborah Mailman’s play 7 Stages of Grieving includes a poem emphasising instead the “wreck”, “con” and “silly” in reconciliation.
    • This would symbolise the burial of hopes for a treaty, saying
      Sovereignty became treaty, treaty became reconciliation and reconciliation turned into nothing.

To properly consider the Voice, we need to look to how we got here

    • However, the Voice aims to address a key problem that recreates disadvantage: First Nations’ political power.
    • First Nations peoples have long sought representation to seek particular rights to land, culture and heritage, language, self-determination and self-governance.
    • The referendum for a Voice is the first of a three-part sequence of reforms, outlined in the 2017 Uluru Statement, followed by treaty and truth-telling.

Regional communities were central to Uluru Statement, and they must also be for the Voice to Parliament

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, May 27, 2023
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Our communities know what issues we face, and often they know what solutions we need.

Key Points: 
  • Our communities know what issues we face, and often they know what solutions we need.
  • However, dialogues in these areas are still needed in the lead-up to the Voice referendum.
  • Having regional voices heard was essential in designing and advancing the idea of a Voice to Parliament.

Listening to regional peoples was essential to the Uluru Statement

    • To reflect this, the Referendum Council during 2015 and 2016 held Regional Dialogues with Indigenous peoples, to find out what we wanted to see achieved through constitutional reform.
    • Our voicelessness as Indigenous peoples, and the voicelessness of our communities, was raised at these dialogues.
    • Not all Indigenous peoples, including some from regional and remote areas, support the Voice to Parliament.
    • A Yougov poll from April this year, one of the most representative samples to date, shows 83% of Indigenous peoples support a Voice.

Is anyone listening to regional people?

    • Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has stated the Voice would be incapable of representing regional and rural peoples.
    • Indigenous people in NSW’s regional town of Orange have also expressed strong support for the Voice.

We need better engagement with regional people

    • Failing to seek the active participation of regional and rural peoples is doing them a disservice.
    • It is this neglect that forms much of the problems and resentments regional peoples have towards Canberra.
    • Are we truly doing politics and media differently if we don’t actively engage 30% of Australians and 60% of Indigenous peoples?

Giving regional people enough information

    • Wagga Wagga City Council has held forums on the Voice, alongside state MP Dr Joe McGirr, to inform and engage people.
    • Local councils, regional MPs, organisations from our rural communities such as the CWA, all have roles to play in this referendum campaign.
    • Even if they are undecided on the Voice, we must ensure regional and remote peoples are included in the nation’s dialogues about the Voice.