2024-08-03
The Australian Greens have accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of sending in the trojan horse of economic development, the week before the landmark High Court challenge of the Yunupingu case which is spearheaded by Attorney General Mark Dreyfus.
At the same time all but abandoning the Uluru Statement, following his speech at Garma Festival today.
The theme of Garma is 'fire, strength, renewal' which post-referendum should be a stark reminder to Labor that like the NAIDOC theme this year “Keep the fires burning” - Blak, loud and proud the strength and renewal is about the strength of our leaders like the late Dr Galarrwuy Yunupingu, who first talked about Makarrata at Garma after former Prime Minister Tony Abbott walked back his commitments raised at Garma.
The very concept of Makarrata is about ‘coming together after a struggle’, with this struggle is viewed as the struggle for the truth and justice for Gumatj and First Nations people.
Despite Labor previously committing to implement the Statement in full – including both Truth and Treaty – Albanese today tried to talk about everything but Truth and Treaty in a desperate attempt to pull the wool over people’s eyes and ignore and divert the focus and the need for the renewal of Garma’s previous calls of Truth and Treaty.
In the PM’s speech, he failed to say that shifting power to national entities like the Coalition of Peaks or the National Cultural Heritage Alliance will remove the rights for Traditional Owners to solely negotiate and to protect their lands and waters, ready for the next Government raid on critical minerals under the guise of a Renewable Energy revolution.
Australian Greens First Nations spokesperson, Senator Dorinda Cox, said Albanese’s grab bag of announcements today were nothing more than a ‘trojan horse’ to conceal the fact that Labor has walked away from its pre-election commitment to First Nations Justice in the way of Makarrata and is hiding the fact that they are in the High Court next week contesting the late leaders landmark case for just terms compensation believed to be worth $700 million.
The Greens currently have a bill for a Truth and Justice Commission before Parliament, and have urged the new Minister for Indigenous Affairs Malarndirri McCarthy to negotiate with them to get it passed.
Quotes attributable to Australian Greens First Nations spokesperson, Senator Dorinda Cox:
“It’s clear the Prime Minister is walking away from Truth and Treaty. Despite Labor previously committing to implement the Uluru Statement in full, today Anthony Albanese treated it like the elephant in the room saying let's leave it to the states and territories.
“Seems he needs a lesson in his own constitutional powers, or is he doing this because of the power of Blak leaders and activists in this country like the late Dr Yunupingu who have left a legacy of fighting for country and culture.
“If Labor abandons its commitment it will be an utter failure for First Nations Justice in this country, it can not continue to sit in our sacred ceremonial places with our leaders and stare down the tip of the spear, without knowing and understanding the consequences of truth, it will come back to haunt you.
“Labor needs to abandon the appeal on the Yunupingu case and publicly support the Greens Bill for a Federal Truth and Justice Commission aka Makarrata.
“The dire reporting again on the Closing the Gap targets need us to be focused on the resilience and strength of our First People, the survival of our culture and our connection to our country must never be diminished or removed under western systems.
“Standing on the shoulders of our cultural giants is about continuing the fight they left for us and survival requires us to navigate the service systems, and the legal battles to protect our legacies of sovereignty to be truly recognised.
"The Greens are ready to work with the new Minister to get our bill for a real Truth and Justice Commission passed and we will continue to stand with Gumatj and all clans and nations around Australia who are entitled to just terms compensation for mining and the destruction of our traditional lands and waters."