Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has held a meeting with 15 grassroots Indigenous leaders at Parliament House in Canberra.
During Yesterday’s meeting the Blak Sovereign movement publicly opposed an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament.
The movement says the proposed advisory body is an extension of colonialist attitudes and dismisses Indigenous Sovereignty.
Speaking at the meeting the Gunnai Gunditjmara Djab Wurrung Senator outlined the groups position.
“The Voice is in violation of our ancient protocols.
It is not a self determined body, there has been no free, prior or informed consent.
The Voice advises on how the government can govern First Nations Peoples, but we have never agreed to be governed by the colonial Australian government,” the Senator said.
Walpiri Elder Ned Hargraves from Yuendumu in the Northern territory addressed the press in his traditional language.
He says his community doesn’t know enough about the Voice.
“I’m here today representing my community, representing because people out in the community don’t know what is “The Voice,” Mr Hargraves said.
“If I hand you a piece of paper in my language, in Warlpiri, would you ever dare to sign it? No you wouldn’t, because you wouldn’t know what I am saying, what I am asking.”
Euahlayi Elder and Aboriginal Tent Embassy Founder Michael Anderson also spoke at the meeting presenting a blanket and a bag of beads as a starting point for Treaty negotiations with the Crown.
“The land was taken from for nothing, but we’re not that greedy, so what we’re doing is offering a blanket for King Charles and a set of beads to be taken back to England,” Mr Anderson said.
“Anthony Albanese do what you want with it, but that’s a gift for the King, we’re taking our land back.”
After the government passed the Constitution Alteration Bill on Monday, Indigenous affairs Minster Linda Burney told the ABC “people will have different points of view.”
“But this is about changing the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People,” the minister said.
The Voice referendum is expected to be held late this year.
Image Credit: Senator Lidia Thorpe Via Twitter
