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| Virtual Tour Sydney 1998 IWD |
Linda Burney President of the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultancy Group Inc. and member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. An Aboriginal activist Linda Burney will address the need for native title and Aboriginal rights.
I want to spend a few minutes on the Native Title issue and not in any great detail I don’t pretend to know the in’s and out’s of it but I know as you do that what the Federal Government is attempting to do right now is absolutely outrageous. The Ten Point Plan, its not a ten point plan, there are something like nine hundred pages of amendments to a document that is about 120 pages long. That is not a ten point plan, but I’ll tell you what the basis of that ten point plan is and this is something that every person living in this country needs to understand. The basis of that plan, the basis of the legislative changes are about winding back the rights of one group of people in this country and guess who those people are? Offcourse it’s indigenous people, Aboriginal people. We under the laws of this land, the highest white court in this land have been granted rights through Mabo and Wik and what this legislation is, this attempt that will start up again very very soon is to wind back the legal rights, the white man’s legal rights of one group of people and that is not even considering the things Jenny Munro spoke about, our rights as the original owners of this country, our rights as the Aboriginal people of this country. So if this government can wind back and want to wind back the rights of one people why is it they can’t simply start winding back the rights of other people and I reckon that the rights they are winding back maybe not through such obvious means are in fact the rights of women. They are attacking Aboriginal rights, they are attacking Aboriginal people, they are attacking and through absolute stubbornness and absolute ignorance can’t even bring themselves to give an apology for something that governments were responsible for and that is offcourse the hundred thousand at least Aboriginal kids that were taken away by governments across this country. Can you imagine the outcry if you put those hundred thousand kids in one week, it would have been on any scale the biggest attempt in history of genocide. So what’s the difference if it was one week or over successive generations and successive governments it’s the absolute same thing. The other thing that this government is attacking is not just the rights of Aboriginal people, not just the rights of women through child care and the changes to aged care in terms of older people but it is also the rights of unions and you add those sorts of things up and you get a pretty good picture of where things are going in this nation. And that is an issue for all of us, but let me concentrate on two things very quickly about the Native Title legislation. I said at the breakfast this morning that the thing that is so underhand about this is that there was a national education campaign in this country about the buy back scheme for guns. There has been a national education campaign going on right now about changes to the Youth Allowance. Those things have had education campaigns, you tell me why there hasn’t been a national education campaign to explain to the Australian people the changes and what Native Title is about. I’ll tell you why, because it is in the interests of governments across this country, not just the Federal government State governments as well that there be no education campaign. Because if there is an education campaign then people will understand what the issues are but don’t tell the people don’t explain it don’t talk about it and fear and misgiving and racism has come to the surface in this debate. And that’s what we are going to have to steal?? Ourselves against it doesn’t matter if we have a double dissolution or a regular election the issue of Native Title and the issue of race and the issue of our rights as indigenous peoples are going to be there well and truly no matter what the election is, let be clear about that. Part of the debate about Native title has been about the poor pastrolists of this country, let me read to you an explanation of what the rights of pastrolisty and pastrol lease holders will be, and it says this … "The only Native Title Rights that can co-exist with the rights of pastrolists holding a lease are those that are not inconsistent with the rights of pastrolists" in other words if indigenous rights are inconsistent then Native Title can’t exist. "If an agreement cannot be reached between the relevant parties that is the patrolists and the Aboriginal people the Federal Court can make a final determination on Native Title and compare the Native Title rights with the rights under the pastrol lease" and listen to this "it may be for example that the rights to visit sacred sites, hold ceremonies and collect native foods will not be seen as inconsistent with the rights of pastrolists" that’s what its about, its impossible under the legislation by any lease holder any pastrolist to loose any tiny bit of land to Aboriginal people. So tell me what the fuss is about. This is about recognition, this is about access for indigenous people to traditional land, this is about the rights we want as indigenous people to exorcise what we have always been exercising for thousands and thousands of years, it is not about taking land off anybody. But what is out there in the public arena, particularly by Mr Borbige and people like that your back yard’s going to go, your swimming pool is going to get filled in, that is what people are being fed and that is what people are believing because this not just about Native Title, this is about saving the arse of the National Party in Queensland. It is about politics and those are the real issues in terms of Native Title. Do not be fooled by the misguided information and the lies that are being told, John Howard held up a map of Australia and on that 70% could be under Native Title claim that is absolutely garbage, it is wrong and it is people like yourselves activist women who need to get that message out and pursue the truth about Native Title. I said I wouldn’t talk for too long but can I say one more thing before I finish. It is that the Coalition that is developing between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal women is absolutely fundamental to pursuing the reconciliation process in this country. Now reconciliation can mean what ever you want to yourself, It can be about addressing Aboriginal disadvantage, it can be about land rights, it can simply be about the fact that we are not going to tolerate racism and ignorance in this country any more. It’s not just about warm and fuzzy things too, its about constitutional change, it talks about treaty and we have huge job to pursue in this country with this Federal Government at the moment on those issues. Time is of the essence, it is going to be 2001 the centenary of federation very soon in this country, and there will be a referendum on a whole range of issues about constitution including issues surrounding Aboriginal people. We need to be clear what that really means, we need to be clear whether we support it or not and I am not advocating one way or another all I am saying is that we are truly at a point in this Nation were we can continue to move down a divided path or create something that is decent and a legacy we want to leave to our kids. Thank You |
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Thank you. I
don’t know how inspiring because I am not going to
talk for a great length of time. I think you heard the
Aboriginal issues form Jenny Munro and I
couldn’t say it much better than that. You have
heard other Aboriginal speakers today as well so what I
wanted to concentrate on is this. Right across
International Women’s Day in Sydney this week, and
probably across the country the one theme that is
emerging is the rights of indigenous people in this
country. There are many issues for women and the one
people are choosing and concentrating on are the rights
of indigenous people and offcourse indigenous women and I
guess you have to say what is the reason for that. This
morning at the breakfast there were nine hundred women,
the talk was about reconciliation and native title. Today
at this rally the people that lead the march were
Aboriginal women, the people that have spoken first and
welcomed you to country have been Aboriginal women.
Tomorrow down at the Domain the Body Shop, a major firm
in this country have taken their responsibility as
corporate citizens and are pursuing the issues of
indigenous Australians. The talks and opening tomorrow at
the domain are by Aboriginal women, the acknowledgement
of country is coming form women of this country and you
have to ask the question why? I think the awnsers are
many but maybe on of them is that women understand about
suppression, women understand about invasion and women
understand that if we don’t pull together as women
then perhaps we are not going to get as far as we need to
in this country.