The Voice is another rebranding incarnation of a many decades long effort to include Australia's Indigenous peoples in The Australian Federal Constitution.
There are two broad positions on this topic,
a) the political left who argue this is a necessary redress of past and present wrongs; and,
b) the political right who see the matter as divisive and systemically racist by creating privileges and disadvantages based on race.
There is a growing concern within Indigenous communities, and it is also my position, that advocates for this many decades long process are actually protecting and advancing a colonial and profit driven agenda under the cloak of allyship with Indigenous people.
The most dominate interest, and the source of much funding and pressure, is the large scale extractive industries (mining and fossil fuels) who have long enjoyed access to massive tracts of Australia with the only non-operational cost being a very low royalty payment to Australia's various states for the minerals and fossil fuels they dig up.
The extractive industries have thus enjoyed and endless holiday from any need to pay fair market value to a land owner and negligible tax to the Federal Government.
The Federal attempt to make the industry pay a fair price, the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, ended in a political war worthy of a Shakespearian play that saw the extractive industries depose Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, installing Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard and then deposing her by the reinstallation of Kevin Rudd.
Since this no Australian Federal government of either side of politics has dared a second attempt.
The Mabo decision was an even greater political upheaval with the shockwave of 'discovering' that the Meriam People held radical title to their land and sea through the common law. Meaning they own all the rights to any and all mineral and fossil fuel wealth under their land and sea and no-one can force the Meriam People to do, or stop doing, anything they want with it.
In a public panic driven by extractive industry PR money, whipping up a fear that the Aboriginals were coming to steal your back yards, the Labor government under Prime Minister Paul Keating, introduced Native Title Legislation (notice the capitalisation as a proper noun) that offered a less expensive and less time consuming process than the High Court to win Native Title.
The catch is that to apply your people must sign a waiver forever extinguishing your common law rights. In return, if you win, you are granted access to the land and some usage rights, even the right to be consulted by anyone wanting to mine your ancestral land, but the ultimate decision is with the government and if an agreement with the mining company cannot be reached they can push ahead regardless.
The fear I, and others hold, is that the proposal that will be the subject of a referendum to change the Constitution will further lock in the situation, giving the Federal government the right to usurp Indigenous rights to decide who is and is not Indigenous and by slight of hand extinguish Indigenous sovereignty by making us all 'Australians'.
If Indigenous communities could truly own and control such land as they still have then all Australian's would benefit by that mineral wealth being spent into the wider economy as the Indigenous community enters the economy. But The Voice is about an endless colonialism, stealing our collective mineral wealth and never paying a fair price to Australia and all Australians.
Reuben Humphries.
Thanks to Mr Hazim for being willing to speak the truth and being willing to listen Aboriginal voices rather than promote The Voice.
For those outside Australia:
The Voice is another rebranding incarnation of a many decades long effort to include Australia's Indigenous peoples in The Australian Federal Constitution.
There are two broad positions on this topic,
a) the political left who argue this is a necessary redress of past and present wrongs; and,
b) the political right who see the matter as divisive and systemically racist by creating privileges and disadvantages based on race.
There is a growing concern within Indigenous communities, and it is also my position, that advocates for this many decades long process are actually protecting and advancing a colonial and profit driven agenda under the cloak of allyship with Indigenous people.
The most dominate interest, and the source of much funding and pressure, is the large scale extractive industries (mining and fossil fuels) who have long enjoyed access to massive tracts of Australia with the only non-operational cost being a very low royalty payment to Australia's various states for the minerals and fossil fuels they dig up.
The extractive industries have thus enjoyed and endless holiday from any need to pay fair market value to a land owner and negligible tax to the Federal Government.
The Federal attempt to make the industry pay a fair price, the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, ended in a political war worthy of a Shakespearian play that saw the extractive industries depose Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, installing Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard and then deposing her by the reinstallation of Kevin Rudd.
Since this no Australian Federal government of either side of politics has dared a second attempt.
The Mabo decision was an even greater political upheaval with the shockwave of 'discovering' that the Meriam People held radical title to their land and sea through the common law. Meaning they own all the rights to any and all mineral and fossil fuel wealth under their land and sea and no-one can force the Meriam People to do, or stop doing, anything they want with it.
In a public panic driven by extractive industry PR money, whipping up a fear that the Aboriginals were coming to steal your back yards, the Labor government under Prime Minister Paul Keating, introduced Native Title Legislation (notice the capitalisation as a proper noun) that offered a less expensive and less time consuming process than the High Court to win Native Title.
The catch is that to apply your people must sign a waiver forever extinguishing your common law rights. In return, if you win, you are granted access to the land and some usage rights, even the right to be consulted by anyone wanting to mine your ancestral land, but the ultimate decision is with the government and if an agreement with the mining company cannot be reached they can push ahead regardless.
The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juukan_Gorge incident shows this issue.
The fear I, and others hold, is that the proposal that will be the subject of a referendum to change the Constitution will further lock in the situation, giving the Federal government the right to usurp Indigenous rights to decide who is and is not Indigenous and by slight of hand extinguish Indigenous sovereignty by making us all 'Australians'.
If Indigenous communities could truly own and control such land as they still have then all Australian's would benefit by that mineral wealth being spent into the wider economy as the Indigenous community enters the economy. But The Voice is about an endless colonialism, stealing our collective mineral wealth and never paying a fair price to Australia and all Australians.
Reuben Humphries.
Thanks to Mr Hazim for being willing to speak the truth and being willing to listen Aboriginal voices rather than promote The Voice.