The result of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament is clear, a resounding No in all states. The only territory to not vote No was the Australian Capital Territory, with a Yes vote of 60.8%. Queensland, where I live, got the lowest Yes vote in the nation at 31.2%. Despite this, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is pushing ahead with a treaty with Indigenous people. She said, “The Australian people have spoken. And their voice tells me they’re not ready. Not yet.” Oh, we’re not ready? If we’re just given a bit more time, then we’ll be ready? It’s a fairly arrogant thing to say, don’t you think? “I respect that. They never get it wrong. We are a generous nation. And we extend our hearts and our hand to all. This wasn’t the right way. I acknowledge the strong feedback. But that won’t stop our efforts to bring justice, reconciliation and material improvement to the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.” Okay, so basically, she’s saying that she’s pressing forward no matter what Queenslanders say. The Queensland Government actually have a Department of Treaty and Aboriginal Partnerships. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a treaty is “a written agreement between two or more countries, formally approved and signed by their leaders”. Exactly which two countries are we signing agreements between? Australia and Australia? In Queensland, there is also a Minister for Treaty, Leeanne Enoch, Queensland’s first Indigenous female MP. A spokesman from her department stated, “The Queensland Parliament earlier this year passed historic Path to Treaty legislation, with the bipartisan support of the entire opposition and will continue”. According to the Government, nothing is going to stop this from happening. It doesn’t matter how you voted. Don’t you think it would be fairer to the Queensland people to wait until next election before pushing ahead with this? The next election is only one year away in October 2024. What’s the rush? Why is the Premier so eager to do this now? I think she probably knows she’s on the way out and she wants to build some sort of legacy. If you think the Opposition is against this, well, you’d be mistaken. Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said he is committed in continuing Queensland’s path to treaty and truth-telling if the LNP is elected next October. I perhaps naively thought that this overwhelming No result would somehow settle things down a bit, but no, the path of division continues. The national broadcaster, ABC’s Triple J radio station aired a piece by Indigenous rapper Nooky on his Blak Out program, where he essentially called Australians racist and called for Indigenous folk to take up arms, metaphorically or otherwise. “Walawaani, I’m Nooky. I’m a proud Yuin man, born and raised in Nowra, and this is Blak Out on Triple J. October 14 was a moment in history where a dark cloud forever cast a shadow. I feel like I let down my elders. I feel like I let down the future generations. Last night was the most overt unconcealed manifestation of racism I’ve every experienced in my whole life. Yesterday, they said our pain and our suffering continues. The disadvantage and the inequality continues. And in this moment, I’m broken, but I’m not defeated. And regardless of yesterday’s outcome, there was always work to do. We haven’t lost a thing. We all knew what the outcome was going to be. We all know the reality that we live in. It’s just now more apparent. We ain’t licking our wounds today. We’re sharpening our spears! We’re the oldest culture on Earth, and we have survived the white man’s world. We did not give up this land, and the planting of the Union Jack never changed our lore at all. We’re gonna repeat this message until it rings true. We will not sit in silence. They will hear us as we rejoice as a people, and light out sacred fire in the face of their broken promises. Treaty now!” Treaty now. He then went on to play Yothu Yindi’s Treaty on a continuous loop for one hour. “We ain’t licking our wounds today. We’re sharpening our spears!” Another Indigenous ABC employee, Europe correspondent Isabella Higgins, also made some commentary that seemed to indicate that hostility is now potentially on the cards, or at the very least, less cordial interaction between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Leading No campaigner, Indigenous Senator Jacinta Price had her home attacked by vandals who threw red paint in glass bottles at the side of her house after the referendum result. So we thought the Voice was over with this No vote? It looks like they’re just getting started. STATEMENT FROM PREMIER ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK REGARDING INDIGENOUS VOICE RESULT https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/98915 PATH TO TREATY QUEENSLAND https://www.qld.gov.au/firstnations/treaty MUSIC Allégro by Emmit Fenn

• published: 16 Oct 2023
• views: 28210