Alison McEwen, The Buloke Times

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Senator for NT addressed the Victorian Nationals State Conference held in Creswick, on May 26 and 27.  

The attendees were interested to hear that it is estimated that large numbers of the population do want the indigenous First Nation people to be included in the Preamble of the Constitution! This statement coming from an indigenous Senator who is a member of the Nationals, who in turn are saying Vote No to the Voice, was a surprise. 

Jacinta said this is the most divisive referendum ever held. In 1967, the referendum was on indigenous citizenship, resulting on a majority “Yes”.

Jacinta went on to say this principle (Recognition) should be separated from the principle of accessing the executive of Federal Parliament ( Representation) – having the right to question the Executive. 

This means having a third layer of Government exclusively for the indigenous people of Australia. Jacinta said this is racism, we are all Australians, who believe in equality of opportunity. Recognition in the preamble is a separate issue to Representation directly to the Executive of Government that may bring High Court Challenges.

Racism

The referendum is encouraging racism. Jacinta said we are all Australians regardless of our ethnic background. She illustrated this by giving a picture of her multicultural background. Her mother, Bess Price, is a proud Warlpiri woman, who was born under a tree. Her grandparents were adolescent before they saw their first white person, and as a couple they decided to give this “new way” ago. 

As time passed, they realised the fear of neighbouring warring tribes coming into your camp at dawn to kill you and your family was no longer to be feared. 

Jacinta’s mother, Bess Price was promised as a second wife at 13. She said No, but a few months later she took up a partnership and became pregnant. From this difficult start, she went on to receive an education, university degree, to be a Minister of the Crown and a leader in her community and further afield. 

Marrying a teacher, Bess raised Jacinta and her siblings to not have a “poor bugger me” attitude. Jacinta’s grandfather taught her life is tough and hard – even though he had a period in jail – he still said “you are no one’s victim”. 

Alice Springs was a good community to grow up in.  Jacinta enjoyed her home and school years there. Her sons enjoy pointing out that they are descendants from the Scots, Irish, Welsh, English, Scandinavian and even Mauritius. Jacinta tells them they could make land claims on every continent in the world!

Bullies

Jacinta continued to say she believes that bullies have taken control of the country. Yes, incarceration rates are high among indigenous men, but it is caused by violence against their own people. The Voice is fostering “it is someone’s fault” – victim mentality. Indigenous people are being taught to view themselves as victims – “not their responsibility to fix themselves”. This is being pushed by privileged indigenous people. It will be a Voice for them and will leave out the marginalised. They would rather maintain the status quo than changing lives. Jacinta encourages say “No” to racial divide. There has not been an audit on the billions of dollars spent of indigenous affairs – what works and what does not work. 

It would be better to ask each clan holding their land right what do they want. It is a human right to be treated the same. 

Currently, the land that has been awarded as land rights is controlled by bureaucracy, not by the people. It would be better for the clan group to decide whether they wanted mining on their land or not, or a family to buy and build their own home. Currently, economic development is not encouraged.

Treaty

Treaty demands are not appropriate, as we have not had a war. A treaty comes after a war. Jacinta is concerned that the situation that New Zealand is in will be duplicated here, e.g., at the beginning of the Covid pandemic when vaccines were 

in short supply, the NZ government decided on the basis that the most vulnerable will receive the vaccine first – those in aged care and seniors. The Maori Tribunal said “wait, we have vulnerable people” – the outcome was that in practice Maori young men were receiving the vaccine before others of greater need. 

Jacinta opposes the proposed Victoria Treaty that any such Treaty may be detrimental to the right of landholders, water entitlements, use of National Parks and State forests. 

The Treaty advocates propose to reinvent the culture, Which Culture? Urban indigenous people have long since not lived to a particular culture. This opposition also extends to the introduction of separate seats for minority groups in the Victorian Parliament.

Human Rights

Jacinta spoke of her fight for the human rights of children. There are many children removed from families because of neglect into caring foster families. Many of these children are removed from the foster home at 7 years old to be placed with indigenous families whether they are suitable or not. 

This is in the name of not repeating the Stolen Generation – culture comes first rather than the rights of the child to a loving, caring, safe family.

A Q. & A. session followed Jacinta’s presentation, finishing with positive examples of indigenous enterprise accomplishments and `What can we do to help you?’ Unfortunately, time ran out for an answer on that question.

Footnote: Most of the voting public of Australia want to “Close the Gap”, but is the Voice the way to do it?

This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 2 June 2023.