Canberra, 7 February 2010 – The assertion of sovereignty by Australian Aboriginal people is to be put to the federal parliament by the Greens Senator Rachel Siewert at the request of a New Way Summit convened here from 30 January to 1 February.
Map of Githabul country on kangaroo skins
Senator Siewert made the pledge to about 120 Aboriginal delegates from across the continent.
Sovereignty was a key issue at the gathering, convened by Michael Anderson, last survivor of the four founders of an Aboriginal Embassy here in 1972.
The summit elected a task force to examine options like international and domestic sovereignty. Paul Coe, a lawyer who has studied the issue for decades, said a lot of explaining has to be done in the communities on what sovereignty could mean.
Representatives of the Githabul nation of northern NSW and southern Queensland won a lot of attention with sovereignty plans that have attracted international support. Relying on research of British documents the Githabul affirm their sovereignty by complete rejection of British law in Australia. “Queen Elizabeth has no writ over our country,” said Mark McMurtrie.
Barbara Shaw, a member of the taskforce and campaigner for her people in Alice Springs town camps, told the summit that their conditions have worsened since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s apology. Barbara said, “Nothing is being done. All they want is the land for mining.” She also expressed deep concern about more uranium mining and the future dumping of nuclear waste on a known fault line in her country.
Marianne Mckay, also a taskforce member, spoke on Aboriginal deaths in custody in Western Australia. She said nothing has changed in that state since the death of a respected Elder from Laverton in a detention van. Marianne expressed grave concerns on the over-representation of Aboriginal people in custody – 83%. She said that was totally unfair and change has to occur immediately.
The summit of 120 to 150 Elders and young people from across the continent heard a lot of raw pain and anger on various issues, from continuing deaths in custody to the Northern Territory intervention.
The summit demanded the resignation of Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin and for her to be replaced by an Aboriginal person selected by Aboriginal Peoples. Advice from Les Malezer, UN advocate, confirmed that this is possible and he added that the person selected needs to find a parliamentary seat within 45 days.
The summit unanimously opposed the proposed Rudd government-sponsored national Aboriginal representative body to be known as ‘National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples”, being organised by the former Human Rights Commissioner, Tom Calma, an Aborigine widely criticised for pandering to white policies.
The summit heard angry comment that the new body would just perpetuate white government control of Aboriginal lives; the so-called representative body would have the power to deny Aboriginal people the right to determine their leaders.
There was strong objection to a so-called ‘Ethics Council’ having been hand-picked and putting candidates through highly stringent character checks that do not apply to non-Aboriginal politicians.
The summit heard much anger expressed at elitist Aboriginals in important government jobs blocking Aboriginal aspirations and supporting assimilationist policies.
To loud acclaim Michael Anderson said “the Aboriginal collaborators and traitors should be named and shamed through the internet for all to see and this will be done through a descriptive biography”.
In a Skype linkup to the conference room from the Northern Territory, Richard Downs, who led a walk-off from the Ampilatwatja community away from the controls of the NT intervention, strongly backed the proposal. He said that “these people have done irreparable harm to Aboriginal Peoples across this country and must be cut down in their tracks”.
Les Malezer, UN advocate, informed the summit that Australia is in breach of every UN human rights covenant it has signed up to and must be held accountable. Many delegates were surprised at how many rights international law recognises.
“Sovereignty will be the major issue of the second New Way Summit to be held in Sydney over the Easter weekend,” Michael Anderson said.
The hundreds of Aboriginal nations in Australia should start making treaties with each other in a process leading ultimately to full sovereignty, former barrister Paul Coe told the summit. Mr Coe’s advised that Aboriginal people need to learn what sovereignty is.
He noted there are two forms of sovereignty Aboriginal people must examine. The first is whether they want to be domestic sovereign nations, that is a state within the Australian Commonwealth or, secondly, to become a confederacy of Aboriginal nations recognised in international law.
Michael Anderson urged that “we need to become proactive and not just talk about government controls but wrest control away from the government”.
The summit heard people say that Aboriginal independence has been usurped by state-controlled welfare slavery. The summit acknowledged that drug and alcohol dependency is symptomatic of oppressed Peoples.
The conference also heard that Aborigines must address the high incarceration rate that Aboriginal adults and youth suffer across Australia. Human rights defenders reported how Aboriginal Legal Services are being starved of funding and are being referred to as Aboriginal Lock-up Services.
The Ambassador of revolutionary Venezuela, Mr Nelson Davila-Lameda, spoke of the strong rights given his country’s Indigenous Peoples since President Hugo Chavez came to power; for example, they have secure representation in the national parliament. He pledged Venezuelan support for the pursuit of Aboriginal sovereignty in international forums.
“One key suggestion is to send an Aboriginal delegation to Britain to claim restitution and reparations for the violations since British colonial occupation,” Michael Anderson said. “They owe us big-time.”
That’s on a preliminary agenda for the taskforce to deal with. It also includes:
- Deaths in Custody
- Over-policing of children and youth
- Institutional racism
- Review of child protection laws in consultation with the Aboriginal nations
- Sustainable Aboriginal economic development
- Respect for Aboriginal religion and spirituality
- Cultural tourism
- Ownership of all Aboriginal programming
Where requested the taskforce is to assist in convening state and regional meetings across the continent.
It is to publish the ‘New Way’ agenda through all media forms including the internet.
The taskforce is to develop an Aboriginal Charter of Rights and establish protocols for inter-nation relations.
It is also to establish joint working plans and relationships with external sympathetic organisations, such as ANTaR, Oxfam and Amnesty International.
An issue that received a lot of attention was possible need for people to be enrolled as members of their nations.
Criticism of black people in important positions who block grassroots aspirations highlighted a need to establish who owns and controls the institutions that deliver Aboriginal services.
On the last of the three summit days more than 600 visits were counted to live streaming of proceedings on the internet.
Contact: Michael Anderson 0427 292 492
ngurampaa@bigpond.com To view the recorded proceedings of the New Way Summit, which was live streamed, go to:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wgar Four audio interviews made immediately after the summit can be downloaded at
http://www.4shared.com/account/dir/23304529/b76cf045/sharing.html?sId=bT.... - Mark McMurtrie on Githabul sovereignty
- An elderly Githabul lady who "had to go to Canberra"
- Marianne McKay about deaths in custody in Western Australia
- Barbara Shaw on the Intervention: "It's just to get our land for mining"
Pictured: Githabul men and Michael Anderson showing the conference Githabul country on two joined kangaroo skins, and song lines running right across Australia, up to the Morning Star and back down to northern NSW.
