Documents and Papers

Proposed changes to South Australia's Aboriginal Heritage Act will reduce powers of traditional owners, according to Indigenous groups.

South Australian Native Title Services chief executive officer Keith Thomas believed amended language in the act would give traditional owners less say over their heritage. "This is going to help people who want to access lands and destroy heritage, rather than improving the protection of Aboriginal heritage," he said. [node:read-more:link]

A Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) is a formal process leading to the establishment of a fully recognized state, which declares itself an independent and sovereign pre-existing state without a formal agreement with the occupying nation state, because the two have never been together. "Many people are wanting to understand UDIs," said Ghillar Anderson, "This topic will be discussed at the upcoming Gathering of Nations on 21 -22 November 2015 in Old Parliament House, Canberra. There will be opportunities for further discussion during the surrounding days at the Aboriginal Embassy. [node:read-more:link]

A discussion paper Decolonisation: To be or not to be included in the Constitution puts in perspective the issue of where we choose to place ourselves as First Nations and Peoples within or outside the Australian Constitution. When the Sovereign Union argues that we have never ceded nor acquiesced our pre-existing and inherent sovereign rights, we find that the Recognise campaign is promoting acquiescence and consenting to be ruled by the colonising power from Britain, the Crown. This will be the case if there is no statement in writing to the contrary of clear and plain intent in the proposed wording of the referendum. [node:read-more:link]

Graham Merritt

Aboriginal Sovereign Union diplomat Graham Merritt, speaking today from Parliament House Canberra said:

"Today is an historic moment, when on behalf of the Sovereign Union I am serving the Crown via the Governor General Quentin Bryce and the Commonwealth Government of Australia with our formal objection to the Act of Recognition.

"This Act of Recognition is a sleight of hand, as the Crown and Government continue to bypass proper recognition of our continuing Sovereignty. The Commonwealth Government is using the reform process to attempt to bring Sovereign Aboriginal Nations and Peoples into the Constitution of a foreign illegal occupying force."