Sovereign Treaty

This weekend in Brisbane, the Referendum Council is holding the last of the Dialogues : a series of meetings with First Nations peoples to discuss the issue of recognising the nation's Indigenous people within the Australian constitution. The findings from the meetings will be reported at a First Nations Convention at Uluru in late May.
However, for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people constitutional recognition is a token gesture - Fred Hooper Chairman of Murrawarri Republic explains the process his people have taken to declare their sovereignty. [node:read-more:link]

The relationship between Maori and the British Crown (which delegated its authority to the New Zealand government) has historically been filled with broken promises. Maori reached their nadir at the turn of the 20th century when their population had fallen to half of what it was at first contact - According to Senior Researcher in Maori Studies, Massey University, New Zealand. Ever since the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, a raft of government initiatives have resulted in Maori losing both resources and power. [node:read-more:link]

A discussion paper Decolonisation: To be or not to be included in the Constitution puts in perspective the issue of where we choose to place ourselves as First Nations and Peoples within or outside the Australian Constitution. When the Sovereign Union argues that we have never ceded nor acquiesced our pre-existing and inherent sovereign rights, we find that the Recognise campaign is promoting acquiescence and consenting to be ruled by the colonising power from Britain, the Crown. This will be the case if there is no statement in writing to the contrary of clear and plain intent in the proposed wording of the referendum. [node:read-more:link]

We can say that Aboriginal people throwing spears at the first white man was an act of sovereign Peoples in defense of their lands, territories and dominions.

If we are to examine the political legal action by the people and their spear throwing, it was a military exercise authorised by their law and customs which, in total, represented an Act of State on behalf of the People. They were exercising their sovereign right to defend what was theirs. [node:read-more:link]

Sovereignty is the ultimate power, authority and/or jurisdiction over a people and a territory. No other person, group, tribe or state can tell a sovereign entity what to do with its land and/or people.

A sovereign entity can decide and administer its own laws, can determine the use of its land and can do pretty much as it pleases, free of external influence (within the limitations of international law).
By Dr Alessandro Pelizzon [node:read-more:link]

With a new and exciting future ahead, Michael Anderson reminds us of where we have been in the past 40 years in respect of our struggle for land rights, sovereignty, restitution and compensation, and what has been said and acted upon by the governments.

He presents an overview of our struggle for sovereignty and outlines the importance of standing our ground. This article includes examples of the concerns the state and territories have in respect of our potential claims that will come their way.