Treaty

The so-called state 'treaty process' of today threatens the inherent sovereign rights of First Nations. State agreements are not 'treaties' between Nations, they are private agreements.

Proper sovereign treaties have to involve negotiating rights between sovereign powers and negotiations commence on a full agreement that sovereignty was never ceded by First Nations in Australia, who continue to hold proprietary rights to all lands and waters in this country, as was confirmed in the Mabo case.

Many of our People are now engaging in and considering Treaties with Australian State and Territory governments. Initial stages for a Treaty with the Commonwealth government and the National Aboriginal Conference was agreed to by the Fraser Liberal Coalition government in 1979, after Kevin Gilbert and others set up the National Aboriginal Government on Capital Hill, Canberra (before the new Parliament House was constructed), and called for a Sovereign Treaty and Bill of Rights.

Join the dots between the current Recognition campaign; Constitutional inclusion; Native Title Act's Preamble; Australia's obligations to the UN and the CERD; Special Measures; the Treaty processes and the insistence that First Nations Peoples are called 'Indigenous Australians' ... then there is the Victorian treaty legislation that introduces itself by stating that the people the treaty is for is Victorian Aborigines. If we are to reach the point where proper treaties are negotiated then we must look at some of the serious ramification that will flow.

Our greatest fear is not whether we negotiate a Treaty, but the forcing through of the Recognition campaign for inclusion in the colonial Constitution. Ghillar, Michael Anderson, provides an historical insight into the NAIDOC 2019 theme ‘Voice, Treaty, Truth’, which reveals that each time First Nations Sovereignty rises up too powerfully it is suppressed in favour of the ‘trip wire to assimilation’. The ‘Voice’, of the NAC was shafted in 1984; the NAC ‘Treaty’ framework was dismantled and ‘Truth’ has barely been heard yet.

Recognition was not ditched with the "R" campaign, it's alive and well after the issue of the 'Uluru' (Yulara) Statement. Australians and Indigenous alike are being deceived. Recognition in the Constitution's preamble is part of the current reforms, and is a massive danger to Aboriginal Sovereign rights. This very clearly explained video is about post-Yulara, Constitutional Recognition and is part 3 of a series. The first two videos of this series were "First Nations Voice to Parliament - Explained" and "Makarrata - Explained".