Dear Banjo,

I have read the Uluru Statement From the Heart. It
calls for substantive reforms to help realize Indigenous
rights through the establishment of an Indigenous Voice to
Parliament and a Makarratta Commission. The Statement
clearly specifies that the Makarratta Commission would
undertake processes of agreement making (treaty) and
truth-telling.

The Uluru Statement calls for - Voice, Treaty, and
Truth. And, these aspirations are intended as as a
sequence of reforms that advance towards a just settlement
with the First Nations peoples.

Following the referendum it is expected attention will
shift towards a Makarratta Commission to work on a
national process of treaty-making and truth-telling.

In the earlier stages I heard an aboriginal activists say that Makarrata means a spear in the leg to calm an offender, to stop him fighting.
It means cripple any opposition, so he cannot fight. At the Garma festival they gave the symbolic spear to Albanese as a sign to keep his word. The lands, waterways, resources, and beaches will be returned to aboriginal control, custom and lore. many States are already preparing laws to cover this agenda. Example: http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/legal-action-to-protect-aboriginal-cultural-sites-leads-to-temporary-logging-halt-in-newry-state-forest/ar-AA1fEpO5?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=9e5f54c61c904ebdbb958c10bfbb97a8&ei=15

Even Foxy admits that a vote for the voice is a vote for a treaty and probably reparations later.

This referendum is doomed.

Dear Banjo Paterson,

It would seem we had similar childhoods. I was in primary school in Darwin in the late 60s early 70s. About a third of the kids at the school were indigenous. Had some good mates among them. However if there was ever a fight between a black and a white kid sides were quickly formed along racial grounds. As soon as it was over back to being mates again.

The incarceration rates of indigenous kids like them in WA and the NT are now world beating.

“Western Australia had the highest rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in youth detention at 278.1 per 10,000 young people. The Northern Territory had the greatest difference in detention rates between the two groups: the rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people was approximately 30 times the rate for other Australian young people.”

“Tasmania had the smallest difference in detention rates: the rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people was just over five times the rate for other Australian young people. In Victoria, the rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people was over 10 times the rate for other Australian young people.”

“The Northern Territory had the largest increase in detention rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, from 144.5 in 2020-21 to 232.1 in 2021-22, an increase of 60.6%.”

This should be to our shame and every effort should be made to listen to indigenous people's solutions because past efforts directed from Canberra have failed.

I think an entirely appropriate point to make is that within 2 years of seeing off ATSIC Howard was putting troops on the ground in over 70 Indigenous communities for mainly political reasons without consultation.

A treaty and a constitutionally enshrined advisory body has to be considered in this light. To me they are entirely serviceable mechanisms for greater self determination. Our notions of democracy and egalitarianism, while admirable, should not mean we blindly close ourselves off to appropriate tweaks such as these.

Dear Shadow Minister,

It has always been made clear that the Uluru Statement
called for Voice, Treaty, and Truth and that these
aspirations were intended as a sequence of reforms
that advanced towards a just settlement with our
First Nations peoples.

We all know that following the referendum attention
will shift towards a Makarrata Commission working on a
national process of treaty-making and truth-telling.

I can't understand why you think that the referendum
is screwed. All this is clearly statemed in the Uluru
Statement.

Do you believe that a treaty would be dangerous and
will lead to the break-up of our nation?

That doesn't make sense. A treaty is a marriage not a
divorce. It is about bringing communities together and
building strong relationships based on self-determination.
Also remember that a Treaty will also be subject to
Australian Law.

The fact that the referendum has a chance of succeeding
is shown by the steps already being taken at state and
territory levels by governments in Queensland, South
Australia, Victoria, Northern Territory and ACT.

.

Dear Foxy,

.

Treaty or law, I guess it doesn’t make much difference. If the First Nations peoples prefer a treaty, I imagine the government would accept.

But, as I indicated previously, my preference is for a law. Had the Makarata been concluded prior to 1971 a treaty would have seemed to me more appropriate. Why ?

Because it wasn’t until 1971 that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were fully included in Census results as Australian citizens following the successful 1967 referendum to that effect.

Until 1971 our indigenous peoples were not considered to be fully-fledged members of the Australian nation and were not counted as part of the population.

That being the case, a treaty between the two different peoples would have made sense.

Since 1971, that is no longer the case. We are now all citizens of the same nation. It took us 183 years to achieve that degree of unity. And it would be a highly regrettable step backwards, in my view, to revive the old division of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples by establishing a treaty between the two.

A federal law to be respected by all would not have the inconvenience of dividing the population into the two different classes of citizens it has taken us so long to unite.

Let’s not lose sight of the objective as defined in the Uluru Statement of the Heart :

« Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. »

Coming together, unity, not returning to division.

But then, maybe I just have a one-track mind :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjkrjYitgeA&ab_channel=esstwobee

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