Treaty

If First Nations agree to a Voice, which is only advisory, with no power of veto and for which the colonial parliament legislates its structure and composition, international law sees this as acquiescence and a relinquishment of First Nations sovereignty, which has never been ceded and for which so many of our people have died, and continue to assert with the phrase ‘Sovereignty Never Ceded’. - Maintaining our continuing sovereignty is our best protection. [node:read-more:link]

I hope this draft document prompts some further thinking about where we are being led and maybe we can begin to think for ourselves and prepare our own independent nations approach to a settlement that you and we want not what the assimilated are prepared to give away. The is will be all lost forever to our future generations. Is this the legacy this generation wants to leave for our future generations? ...
- Ghillar Michael Anderson [node:read-more:link]

Both major political parties tow the colonial line regarding First Nations rights. Even though Labor promises to put the Voice to Parliament to referendum in their first term of office, if they win the election on Saturday, this misses the mark completely. What is the advantage to First Nations Peoples to have a Voice when the Federal parliament has no obligation whatsoever to take notice of any advice offered by consultation, let alone enforce the advice? [node:read-more:link]

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. [node:read-more:link]

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. [node:read-more:link]