Voice may ‘lead to constitutionally enforced racism which is absolutely abhorrent’

LETTER TO THE ALICE SPRINGS NEWS I don’t fear global warming nor wilderness scare mongering, but I do fear divided allegiances. We have one sole loyalty and that must be to the Australian people. Some are victims of their own one-eyed opinions that they consider are a fact. For them, there is no room for anything else to be discussed. Had Australia actually been invaded, the descendants of its native population would be classified as a conquered people and their land rights would be abolished. History is not there to be liked or disliked – it is there for you to learn from. If it offends you, that’s even better, because then you’re less likely to repeat it – it is not yours to erase or destroy. The colonisation and modernisation of Australia is a clear example of an historical inevitability that is out of our (and your) hands. Indigenous society never had the power to deny visitors. We were fortunate that a benign outcome was the arrival of the British. You cannot accuse racism for failures. An indigenous voice in Parliament [as called for in the Uluru Statement from the Heart – above, text below] is not an answer to anything. We are in this together and don’t need chip-on-shoulder politics. This may lead to constitutionally enforced racism which is absolutely abhorrent. Marilyn Quirk Heybridge 7316 ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart: Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from "time immemorial", and according to science more than 60,000 years ago. This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or "mother nature", and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown. How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years? With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood. Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future. These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness. We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country. We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution. Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination. We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history. In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.