Latest news with #VoiceToParliament
ABC News
11-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Failure of Voice gives 'green light' to councils to roll back Indigenous rights
There are fresh claims about racism in local government after a regional Victorian councillor publicly questioned whether the British Empire ever invaded Australia, during a council meeting last month. The comment comes after a series of decisions by councils across the state that have left Indigenous communities feeling disrespected. A number of councils have reversed decisions about funding Australia Day celebrations and one council recently removed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags from its website without community consultation. Activists and academics say it is indicative of a larger cultural shift following the Voice to Parliament referendum. At a public meeting in June, Moyne Shire Councillor Susan Taylor suggested the removal of all references to traditional owners in the council's five-year plan. The term appears twice within the plan as part of a list of council's aspirations, one of which is to "strengthen relationships with traditional owners and First Nations communities". Cr Taylor said the phrasing "morally binds" council to support Victoria's treaty process, which she believed was "tilting the state towards authoritarianism". In the same meeting, fellow councillor Jim Doukas said he found it "disturbing" that council's health and wellbeing report mentioned "invasion". "I don't know of any invasion that took place," Cr Doukas said in the meeting. "Could you identify what land was stolen? Because I find it objectionable that he might be accusing me of living on my land being stolen." The debate about settlement or invasion rests on European international law of the time and the concept of terra nullius (the land of no-one), which was overturned by the Mabo decision in 1992. University of Melbourne deputy vice-chancellor (Indigenous) Barry Judd said the comments from both councillors attempted to erase historical truths about colonisation. Professor Judd pointed to the final report from the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the first formal truth-telling process into the impact of colonisation on First Nations people in Victoria. "The commission has told a story of colonial dispossession, the massacre of Indigenous people, many of those, of course, occurred in western Victoria, and attempts to erase the existence of Indigenous people across the country that is now called Victoria," he said. "When councils make changes like those to not refer to Indigenous Australians, I think it's part of an attempt to continue the lies of Australian history that this place was a terra nullius." One of the key battlegrounds for the growing pushback against Indigenous recognition has been Australia Day. Colac Otway Shire Council is the latest of a number of Victorian councils that have reversed decisions about funding events on the country's national holiday. In May, Colac Mayor Jason Schram raised a motion to return community awards ceremonies to January 26 — using his casting vote to adopt the proposal — despite a councillor's proposed amendment and some councillors being absent. In a letter published in the Colac-Herald newspaper after the meeting, a resident criticised the mayor's use of a casting vote on a non-urgent matter, describing it as "poor governance". At the time, a council spokesperson told the ABC the mayor had a level of discretion over the use of a casting vote and there was no requirement to revisit the decision. The move mirrors several other councils that have reinstated January 26 celebrations in recent years, including Geelong City Council, Shepparton City Council and Strathbogie Shire Council. Earlier this year, images of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags disappeared from the Warrnambool City Council website without community consultation. A council spokesperson said the decision was prompted by queries from the public about why the Australian flag was not displayed. Gunditjmara and Yorta Yorta woman Keicha Day said making the decision behind closed doors lacked integrity. "The reason why our elders got organisations to include the Aboriginal flag was to let us know as children whether that service was safe or not. "Being raised in a community, if we didn't see a flag or artwork or something in a mainstream service, that's how you knew not to go there because it's not culturally safe." The images of the flags were reinstated in June after residents requested their return. Ms Day has spent years trying to get nearby Glenelg Shire Council to remove colonial monuments and rename public assets honouring colonial settlers. A number of these sites are named for the Henty brothers and Major Thomas Mitchell, who were the overseers of men who murdered dozens of Indigenous people in a number of massacres. "When we come with a reasonable request like don't glorify genocidal maniacs, they will then hide behind their majority constituents," Ms Day said. Ms Day said Reconciliation Action Plans were one way to hold councils to account, but they were not legally binding, and not all councils had one. She is hoping the Yoorrook Justice Commission and state treaty negotiations provide recommendations to make councils more consistent in how they handle issues that impact First Nations people. "I'll be really interested to see what comes out of the truth-telling process around councils, but also how treaty intends to tackle the council issue," Ms Day said. Professor Judd said the result of the referendum on the Voice to Parliament had enabled more individuals and organisations to espouse what he described as discriminatory behaviour. "I do think these [council] decisions empower people to be more explicit and open in their racist ideas about Indigenous Australians and we've seen that in the aftermath of the Voice referendum," Professor Judd said.
ABC News
10-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
SA First Nations Voice to Parliament leader faces court on domestic violence charges
One of the two presiding members of the South Australian First Nations Voice to Parliament is facing two domestic violence aggravated assault charges. Danielle Faith Smith, 40, appeared briefly in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court on Thursday morning, with a date was set for a pre-trial conference in September. "The matters are being contested," Ms Smith said outside court after the hearing. Court documents show Ms Smith, who goes by the name Danni Smith, is accused of two assaults police allege occurred on March 22. "It is further alleged that the circumstances of aggravation are that you committed the offence knowing that the victim of the offence was a person you were in, or were formerly in, a relationship with," the documents state. The alleged victim's name was redacted in the charge sheet seen by the ABC. Ms Smith is also accused of breaching a bail agreement. Police laid the charges on April 26. Ms Smith represents the Riverland and South East regions on the Local Voice to Parliament and was elected as its joint presiding member, with Leeroy Bilney, in November last year, after the resignation of the previous female joint leader. Asked if she would stay on the Voice to Parliament, Ms Smith said: "This has got nothing to do with the Voice." Ms Smith is an Eastern Arrernte, Gurindji, Kaurna, Narungga Nukunu and Ngarrindjeri woman who lives in Mount Gambier. She received the most votes in Riverland and South East at the first Voice to Parliament election in March. The First Nations Voice Act 2023 states that the office of a member of the Voice becomes vacant if the member is found guilty of a serious offence or serves a jail term.
ABC News
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Where to now — transforming anger into action after the Voice referendum
In October 2023, Australians voted no to a Voice to Parliament for First Nations people. In this panel from the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival, four speakers who saw the campaign up close discuss what went wrong, and even whether the whole endeavour was worth it. Ultimately they're all trying to answer the question, where do we go from here? Speakers Thomas Mayo Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander, author, activist and 'yes' campaigner Ben Abbatangelo Gunaikurnai and Wotjobaluk journalist Nardi Simpson Yuwaalaraay artist, musician and author Daniel Browning (host) Bundjalung and Kullilli man, Professor of Indigenous Cultural and Creative Industries at University of Sydney and former ABC arts journalist
The Australian
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Australian
Editorial. Yoorrook justice report will fail for same reason as Voice to parliament
It will fail for the reason the voice to parliament was rejected by the Australian people at the 2023 referendum. A decisive majority demonstrated no appetite for denying, as the national anthem puts it, that 'we are one and free'. As prime minister Kevin Rudd put it in the 2008 apology to the Stolen Generations, 'profound grief, suffering and loss (were inflicted) on these our fellow Australians'. There is also a sleight of hand in the report, making the case that the memory of the destruction of cultures weighs so hard on Indigenous Australians now that a parallel government is needed to lift their burden. The commission presents 100 recommendations, many focused on symbolism that will do nothing to reduce Indigenous imprisonment or improve health and housing, employment and education. Despite this, Rueben Berg, co-chairman of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, said on Tuesday: 'When it comes to issues facing First Peoples, we need a different approach, one that draws on the expertise of First Peoples to design and deliver practical solutions to local challenges. That's what treaty is all about.' It is also exactly what the Coalition of Peaks is doing without a political assembly. The 80 or so grassroots community organisations that make up the Peaks work on the federal government's Closing the Gap program and are 'accountable to our communities, not governments … we know how to best advance our lives'. Ideologues who cannot accept the voice result may not like it, but the Peaks approach is politically practical while the Yoorrook commission's call for 'the transition to genuine nation-to-nation relationships' is not. As for those of its recommendations that call for specific improvements to the lives of Indigenous Australians, they are all matters for government now. Indigenous Australians in Victoria working to build careers and set their children up for long and happy lives are entitled to all the assistance government provides. They have a right to see their cultures respected and their histories acknowledged. And Premier Jacinta Allan knows it, responding with a back-covering 'we share the Yoorrook Justice Commission's goals of truth and justice and will carefully consider the commission's final findings and recommendations'. The history of settler society is far more nuanced than appears in the commission report; British governments were not indifferent to the rights of Indigenous Australians. It is incontestable that the arrival of 19th-century settlers was a calamity for millennia-old Australian economies and cultures. But the Yoorrook Justice Commission's recommendations must be judged on how enacting them would improve the circumstances of disadvantaged Indigenous Australians now and in the future. Awareness, indeed anger, among Indigenous Australians today at what occurred in the past should be recognised – it was the point of Mr Rudd's apology, which is still recognised in Sorry Day. But history cannot be undone; guilt is not hereditary. 'Let the dead Past bury its dead,' as poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow put it.
News.com.au
30-06-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson ‘disgusted' by Sussan Ley's Acknowledged of Country speech
A 'disgusted' Pauline Hanson has hit out at Sussan Ley after she acknowledged traditional owners during a major speech to national media last week. The One Nation leader has accused Ms Ley of double standards after the opposition leader performed an Acknowledgment to Country during her first major speech at National Press Club on Wednesday. 'I was disgusted. Absolutely disgusted with it,' Senator Hanson said. 'Because the Liberals, they were the ones that actually opposed the Voice to parliament. 'It wasn't just the Liberals that opposed it. It was a lot of people like myself, like Gary Johns, and then you had Barnaby Joyce and you had Jacinta Price. 'Once the public were informed about what it meant and changed in the Constitution, people were better informed and made their decisions about it.' The senator told Sky News' Danica and James that Ms Ley wasn't the right person for the Liberal Party's top job, adding a 'true conservative' needs to replace her. 'It's going to be very interesting what happens the next three years under Sussan Ley,' she said. 'I think she will be overthrown before the next election.' It comes after Ms Ley announced there is a 'time and place' for the declaration while her acknowledgment a stood as a far cry from the staunch stance held by her predecessor Peter Dutton. Under Mr Dutton, acknowledgement of country addresses were missing from a number of major Liberal Party events and speeches. Ms Ley perviously told ABC Radio it wasn't a 'boxing ticking' exercise. 'Look I think Acknowledgements of Country have their place, but in significant moments like yesterday was one of those places,' the Opposition Leader said. 'And as Environment Minister and Health Minister, I listened carefully and I participated in what I would describe as meaningful Welcome to Country ceremonies that involved the circumstances of Indigenous Australians with respect to our natural environment and their own health that were relevant and important. 'I don't think it should be at every work meeting, because I think that actually diminishes the value of what it is. 'So there is a time and a place, and it's about striking the right balance.' A survey of 1005 Australians conducted by independent marketing research firm Dynata on behalf of the conservative Institute of Public Affairs last month found that more than half (56 per cent) of participants agreed Welcome to Country ceremonies have 'become divisive'. IPA deputy executive director Daniel Wild said the survey results were proof 'Australians have had an absolute gutful' of the 'divisive and pointless' tradition. Mr Wild argued Ms Ley's stance at the National Press Club was also 'at odds with modern Australia', and accused her of '[failing] to state who the purported traditional owners of the National Press Club are'. Only 17 per cent disagreed with the statement, while 27 per cent said they were unsure. Surprisingly, 48 per cent of those aged 18 to 24 — a demographic often thought to be more progressive than generations past — did not believe the ritual to be a unifying one. Sentiment around the performance of Welcome to Country before major events like Anzac Day or sporting matches was more mixed — 46 per cent and 49 per cent respectively said they should no longer be performed before either event, versus 34 per cent and 30 per cent who said they should continue.
