A former co-chair of the National Congress for Australia’s First People has written an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for the representative body to be reinstated.
The call follows the October 14 referendum which saw the majority of Australians vote against enshrining an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Congress was established in 2010 with funding provided by the Rudd Government however an ongoing funding commitment was withheld by the Abbott Government in 2016.
The organisation was forced into voluntary receivership in 2019 and was just last month deregistered by ASIC.
Butchulla man Les Malezer says the failed referendum has left a void in national First Nations leadership.
He says “It’s critical we have national representation, which we haven’t had for a long time and that that national representation should be to defend our human rights.
Human rights hasn’t been mentioned for quite a number of years, particularly during the referendum period, human rights was not brought up at all.
We’re proposing that we meet with the Prime Minister to have a discussion, that the discussion is centered on Congress which was the last representative body we had and most importantly it’s the only one that was controlled by Aboriginal membership”.
(IMAGE: Supplied)
