Constitutional experts have backed the proposed Indigenous voice as a “safe and sensible” legal option, dismissing concerns that the advisory body would be too powerful. “It’s actually strikingly modest. If other arms of government hear the voice’s representations and aren’t persuaded, they can continue on their course. There’s no requirement to follow the advice of the voice,” said George Williams, professor of law at the University of New South Wales. The latest version states parliament will “have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.”
Sovereignty – Dale Ruska on Treaty
SPEAKERS
Dale Ruska (author of “Goorie Cry Out for Black Conscience Alert – Voice Treaty Truth“), 4PR – Voice of the People
4PR – Voice of the People
Could we start by you introducing yourself by saying, who you are and where you’re from?
Dale Ruska
My name is Dale Ruska, First Nations, Aboriginal man that lives on Stradbroke Island. I’m Gorenpul Goompie, I’ve been raised by my Moreton Family Group, who are my ancestral bloodline group who gives me my connection to this country that I reside upon. I have Aboriginal bloodlines that connect me through to Gorenpul as well as the Yuggera through to … down to Nunukul people as well …
4PR – Voice of the People
… just so we can unpack that a bit for our audience. Firstly, Gorenpul, what does that mean?
Dale Ruska
The people of the … shell or the pearl shell of Moreton bay …
4PR – Voice of the People
… now Goompie. Is that the black fella name for Dunwich, which is on Minjerribah.
Dale Ruska
Yeah, that’s right. Goompie is the name, original name of Dunwich. And it’s a place where our people had a village that lasted for some time. And when archaeologists surveyed the sites of that area, they concluded that our occupation had been consistent for at least 6,000 years in that one area.
4PR – Voice of the People
… And that’s why the native title was achieved, was it?
Dale Ruska
Well, Native title was achieved because our connection to country was unbroken and our maintenance of tradition and laws was maintained.
4PR – Voice of the People
Could you please give a brief explanation of the history of occupation of your lands by Europeans?
Dale Ruska
European occupation of land here was one of the lengthiest in Queensland this was the starting point. When early penal colonies were set up for the convicts in Brisbane, Stradbroke Island was made a pilot station and a storehouse for all the ships that were coming to Moreton Bay. And that history involved a lot of incidents from … firstly, there being major conflicts and those conflicts intensified into what we view as being wars that were fought here on the Island.
There were massacres here on Stradbroke Island, as well as massacres on Moreton Island, of our people due to our resistance. And after some time, in the first 50 to 70 years of colonial history in this area, which began in 1803 (sic). And took a rapid movement in about 1820s. [The Moreton Bay Penal Settlement was established on the Redcliffe Peninsula on Moreton Bay in September 1824].
This, in the main, brutality of the treatment of Aboriginal people … in the genocidal sense … occurred right up until about the 1870s. And there was a mission or … wasn’t a mission … it was established as an Aboriginal labour camp on Stradbroke. But prior to that, about 20 to 30 years earlier, there was the first ever religious mission in Australia established here on Stradbroke Island under the Catholics.
So for Aboriginal people, that meant that they could obtain a sense of asylum security by being associated to that mission era. So when the labour camp was set up a bit later, in 1873, because of what was happening throughout all of South-east Queensland from the pastoral movement and the frontier era, many Aboriginal people ended up being on Stradbroke Island … and then the labour camp that was set up comprised of many Aboriginal people from different areas from all around the southern state.
Myora mission became an official mission, then a bit later in 1893, when the Aboriginal Protection Act was introduced, and the policy of the mission, like most people know was pretty brutal and immoral for Aboriginal people, it forced us to change how conscious being from our traditional state into the form that was being imposed on us as a result of the administration of that time.
Dale Ruska
Myora mission was and the protection era was followed by the Aboriginal assimilation era, that again, most people should know a lot about that and we had to obtain permits and that for work, and we had to go through declaration processes …. to declare that we weren’t Aboriginal people. And that, again, was another brutal time, which led right up until around about the (19)60s. And then we seen the referendum come in in 1967. And a lot of the people from here played a big role in the referendum movement, and the referendum movement of 67, which gave us citizenship rights as followed by the political movement of the land rights era, which began with the 1972 tent embassy establishment in Canberra. And again, Aboriginal people from here, played a big role in that and I’d like to name some of those Aboriginal people.
Dale Ruska
My grand Uncle John Newfong was pivotal. My mother Donna Marie Ruska was pivotal. Another grand uncle of mine by the name of Dennis Walker was pivotal and the grand Aunt by the name of Kath Walker played a big role in that era’s movement. Our people have maintained the principles … or not all of us … but some of us maintain the principles and values of the meaning of that moment, right up until this date.
We then seen the land rights here on Stradbroke island in the 1980s under the Aboriginal Land Rights act, which we rejected on the basis that we didn’t want to receive the crumbs off the table of colonial occupation, and that we wanted what was rightfully ours as the original sovereign owners.
And not long after that, in early 90s, we began our claim process parallel to the ending of Mabo, where we launched our notice of intention to claim our lands back on the basis of our original blood inheritance sovereign meaning. And that process was railroaded, as a lot of processes of that time were by the Native Title Act, and the Native Title Act has been what’s the piece of legislation that’s been responsible for the administration of Aboriginal rights and the control of Aboriginal people since the consent determination of 2011.
Dale Ruska
And consent determination, some of us chose not to support it, and we opposed it. And we launched our objections, but the federal court wouldn’t recognize the objections because we’re comprised of only a minority, and we objected on the grounds that the Native Title Act was totally unjust, and we chose instead to reserve our first nation sovereign rights as the original people of this land.
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THE VOICE
The Uluru statement sought a Truth and Justice (Makarrata) commission which was immediately and summarily refused by then Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to his eternal shame. It was a necessary step in the process towards the Voice. The Constitutional amendment will fail First Nations people whether or not it is carried.
If people want more than the current government’s small target option then they should vote down Labor’s “Voice” referendum.
Already a significant number of First Nations people have advocated for a “No” vote. This may be a tactical but I doubt it. A Voice without Sovereignty may be yet another slap in the face for First Nations people. A “No” may be seen as what it is, an active rejection by First Nations of an ineffective sop which is yet another whitewash of colonisation and post-colonial history.
The wording for “the Voice” referendum holds no fears for conservatives. It does no more than create a government funded bureaucracy and another box to tick in the passage of legislation and regulation. The form and effectiveness of the voice will be at the mercy of the parliament. The Labor government has created a rod for its own back.
A win for the “yes” vote as well as a win for the “No” vote may be a loss for first nations people. If we vote ” no” nothing happens but if we vote “yes” it may be a way towards a Marrakata or truth Commission or even more.
If “yes” wins, the legislation needed to create a Voice with any prospect of having any meaningful input into policies and legislation affecting first nations people will be contested all the way by Liberal Nation parties because the majority of their members embrace John Howard’s opinion about the “Black Armband “ view of history. They will be supported by fearmongering by the majority of the media about any genuinely effective legislation or policies. The coup de grace will be administered by a Labour government facing an electorate wilfully ignorant of the effects of colonisation and its aftermath who will not elect them if they espouse any effective policies for first nations people. The result may be ineffective window dressing which the conservative parties will eventually destroy with under-resourcing and appointments of unqualified party hacks.
The Uluru statement sought a Truth and Justice (Makarrata) commission which was immediately and summarily refused by then Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to his eternal shame. It was a necessary step in the process towards the Voice.
Which way?
Australians and their politicians may need to have an authoritative report from a royal commission on the history and effects of colonisation and its aftermath up to today so that their subsequent establishment and maintenance of the Voice can be on the basis of fact and not the fictions which have permeated Australian society since 1788.
Only then, should the structure of the Voice be debated and determined with an open book in front of the Australian people and in the full glare of international opinion so that choices can be made which show where on the spectrum between justice and a “fair go” at one end and racist opportunism on the other, the true Australia lies.
Another world is possible
The voice is like the Oslo Peace accord for the Palestinians.
There was no offer ever made to the Palestinians. It was all show. Israel built the wall and the settlements in the occupied territories.
Both the Palestinians and the Aboriginal people must have the right to return to their own lands. Both Israeli and Australian governments are opposed to this.
To vote ‘yes’, simply because it seems like the right thing to do, is not enough.
Australia must acknowledge prior occupation and prior ownership of the land by Aboriginal people.
Ian Curr
26 March 2023
On Tuesday, 27 January 2015, the Federal Court handed down a negative determination in the case, Sandy on behalf of the of the Yugara People v State of Queensland (No. 2) [2015] FCA 15, rejecting the native title claims of the Yugara/Yagarapul and the Turrbal People over a large part of the greater Brisbane region.
These proceedings commenced with two separate native title applications, with Ms Connie Isaacs (subsequently joined by Ms Maroochy Barambah) lodging an application on behalf of the Turrbal People over several discrete areas in the greater Brisbane region in 1998 and Mr Desmond Sandy, Ms Ruth James and Ms Pearl Sandy lodging an application on behalf of the Yugara/Yagarapul People over Brisbane and some bordering regions in 2011. The two applications were consolidated in 2013. – from the WestEnder