Recognition

As Chairperson of APY Law and Culture, I have written to the Referendum Council to say the Tjilpis are insulted that the Referendum Council did not respect protocol and procedure before they called a meeting for discussion on having Anangu/Aboriginal people all over Australia included in Australia's Constitution. We, the Traditional Owners for Uluru and Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara country argue that our Law is the Law of the Land in this part of the world and not the whiteman law. We know we have been controlled by the whiteman law because we didn't have enough warriors and clever Lawmen who can take the fight up to these people who occupy our lands illegally. [node:read-more:link]

The Referendum Council has been having invitation-only dialogue meetings with Aboriginal people across Australia which we called 'secret meetings' because only selected First Nations people were allowed to attend and many Tribes and Nations were not represented.  Now we find that there is an additional 'Invitation-Only' meeting in Canberra. First Nations people who have been seeking a voice for the 'NO' vote have discovered this meeting in Canberra on Wednesday 10 May 2017, because as it was poorly advertised many people do not know about it, so are unable to attend. [node:read-more:link]

Ghillar, Michael Anderson, stresses that to ban First Nations people from attending Referendum Council Dialogue meetings cannot be construed as true deliberative democracy, with their denied right to be fully informed and to contribute their point of view in a process that will affect our children's children inheritance and sovereign status.
Ghillar provides a video critique of legal advice regarding the impact of the referendum on First Nations sovereignty, from Professors Megan Davis and George Williams ... [node:read-more:link]

Isobelle Anderson of the Kirjin Nation in Far North Queensland has made an official complaint to June Oscar AO, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait and Islander Social Justice Commissioner, regarding the way the Referendum Council is conducting their Regional Dialogue meetings and called the whole process a 'circus'    ...   'To make a complaint to the Ombudsman in Canberra, I have to lodge a complaint with the Commonwealth Agency first. I cannot do this because they will not allow me to ...'    [node:read-more:link]

'We do need to understand who is running the Referendum Council, which is now trying to distance itself from the failed Recognise and Reconciliation campaign for the constitutional inclusion of the words 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders'. This engine room they call the 'Referendum Council' must be urgently scrutinised. Who are these people and what are their backgrounds?' - Ghillar, Michael Anderson provides an overview of the deceit by our own people who are being led by a government with a treacherous agenda. [node:read-more:link]