Gathering of Nations Extended - begins 10am 23 November 2018

Media Release 2 November 2018

Gathering of Nations extended - From 10am 23 November 2018

Yarramundi Cultural Centre
245 Lady Denman Drive, Canberra
23-25 November 2018

Due to the high level of interest in the Gathering of Nations we have decided to begin at 10am Friday 23 November 2018 so that our people have more opportunity to share their messages. Media will be advised of a time they can attend and on Monday 26 November we will hold a press conference with an update on the outcomes. Details will be circulated closer to the time.

The forthcoming Gathering of Nations of the Sovereign Union, which this year is being sponsored by the Yorta Yorta Nation, focuses on key themes relevant to the current demands faced by First Nations and Peoples across Australia.

The issue of First Nations' continuing Sovereignty and the ultimate dominion over our lands, waters and natural resources is a trigger which will now cause confrontations of the political kind. This may be confusing for many because the Australian colonial governments at State and Federal levels falsely pretend to the public that they control the sole decision-making in respect to the Law of the Land in this continent, while knowing full well that this is wrong.

In the Mabo judgement, the High Court recognised First Nations' continuing proprietary interest in all the land mass of Australia, including our legal interests in natural resources, petroleum, oil and gas under our Law culture and customary practices. Australian governments, however, are belligerent in their attitude, because they know full well that the Australian public will demand answers, if they truly understood the deep-rooted implications that we, First Nations and Peoples, know to be correct when we assert our sovereignty.

Because of the powers and might of their police force and military the illegal colonial authority perpetuates the spin and carries on with an aggressive silent war against us, by sending in their police as a tool to suppress any conflicts that First Nations and Peoples may create. The Police are used as a big stick against us in the guise of maintaining Law and Order. They do this knowing that there is a fundamental question of jurisdiction that needs to be addressed, but the lawyers in this country are useless as a defence mechanism for us, because their loyalty and obedience is to the Bar Association. When people understand the depth to which the Bar Association is bound globally to the Crown, then the public will understand why First Nations and Peoples in Australia have a long way to go to achieve true justice.

One thing is for certain as day is day and night is night, we are a sovereign race of First Nations and Peoples in this modern era of politics and we are recognised as having two strands of citizenship. We have a national identity within our own Nation, e.g. Yorta Yorta, Gomeroi, Euahlayi, Wiradjuri etc.

Secondly, the colonialists accept us as 'Australian', but legally we have never been franchise, nor were we ever made denizens from the beginning of contact. If we are to look at the 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act it will be noted that First Nations and Peoples (Aboriginal) were not British subjects and 99% of First Nations and Peoples population at that time were 'natives' of the colonies, who had no right of franchise in any way shape or form under the State colonial rules. Therefore according to the black letter law, First Nations and Peoples (Aboriginal) had no citizen nor civil rights, because they were not franchised citizens. To this end we belonged to a category known as 'aliens'. This is ironical when we are the native sovereigns of the soil, as recognised in R v Bonjon 1841 by Justice Willis, who ruled that:

"the Supreme Court of New South Wales had no jurisdiction to proceed with the trial of Bonjon" and Bonjon was discharged and released from jail.

In Macquarie University Decisions of the Superior Courts of New South Wales 1788-1899, see Overview of Treaty, Treaties, UDIs and Recognise.

We must remember that the 1962 Commonwealth government legislation granting Aboriginal people the right to vote at the federal level was, and continues to be, invalid, because this was five years before the successful 1967 referendum, when the Commonwealth gained the right to pass laws for the race, known as Aboriginal (now known as First Nations and Peoples).

If we stick with the black letter law of the Commonwealth and States, then Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who are not franchised even now, should not be able to vote in any election be it Federal, State or local.

We must remember that the Commonwealth parliament cannot pass laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people without using the Race Power, for there is no other section in the Australian constitution that grants them the right to legislate to make Aboriginal people Australian citizens. Thus the absolute necessity for the Federal government to use the Race Power for the purposes of making laws for First Nations and Peoples.

This is the underbelly of the reason why the government is feverishly trying to steal our own citizenry without our people being made fully aware of what lies beneath the covers of the government's ambitious objective to have the Recognition referendum which, if passed, would once and for all finally assimilate First Nations and Peoples into the colonial regime. This could, and no doubt would, thwart any assertion of First Nations sovereignty.

As I have travelled around Australia meeting and talking with our people, there is one common thread of complaint that comes from our people, and that is the call for us to address the issue of Native Title. It is a well accepted cry now that Native Title does in fact crush us and is currently being absolutely abused for this purpose by the white lawyers, who constantly profess that they are working for our interest. (joke) An example is provided by the Yamaji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation. [ SEE ARTICLE ]

“… Connection reports are reportedly kept hidden from the claimant group? The insanity of a white American immigrant Anthropologist arriving from America to make unwanted assessments on the black race 'traditional and rightful landowners' of the ongoing stolen Aboriginal country displays disrespect and disregard for our people on all levels and not considered culturally appropriate assistance.”

On the other hand there is a resurgence of the conviction that asserting First Nations' sovereignty and rebuilding the self-determining governance of First Nations will lead us to a realisation that we can achieve whatever we set our minds on, but this will not happen without unity. The old adage of 'divide and conquer' finds its way back into our vocabulary as something to be avoided at all costs.

Our people now realise the true nature of liberation. Our people can feel it deeply. They can sense it and, now more than ever, we understand that there no more room for division amongst our ranks. We are who we are and we should never forget it.

We are in a battle for survival and I trust our people know the absolute need to remain focused and balanced as we surge with this new burst of energy guided by the spirit, our Elders and our legal rights. I believe that our people now understand that we have arrived at the 'tipping point' and the forth-coming Gathering of Nations can take us forward together.

If we are to address the issue of true justice then without hesitation the Australian parliament should convene yet again another Royal Commission into the administration and operations of the Native Title Act.

There are First Nations who are now in the process of developing class actions against the State and the lawyers, who have been constantly misrepresenting the true nature of their operations in respect of pursuing Native Title claims.

There are now hundreds of complaints by our people across this Country who seek to correct the wrongs of the Native Title Act, including its in-built racial discrimination.

Everyone understands the challenges, but it is our rights as Nations and Peoples which are being hindered by a racist regime and we are determined to take these wrongs to task, in order to locate our own solutions to a problem that will soon become insurmountable if we fail to address it now.

This next gathering of Nations provides an opportunity for a meeting of minds and open discussions.

We know that the Native Title process as it stands has been orchestrated in such a way that without many even recognising, it we are the loosers in a legislative regime which is deliberately designed to shut down our right of claim, our inherent birthright. But our mob are steadily waking up to this fraud.

On Saturday 24th Prof Gary Lilienthal will explain, among other things, how this type of fraud cannot legitimise any treaty process.

We should not and cannot permit our rights to be eroded without any form of recompense. Non-Aboriginal people today are assured of a just process, if the government needs to take away certain rights from the land-holders in rural and remote Australia, but First Nations and Peoples do not have the same access to a remedy.

First Nations and Peoples are for the most part like the proverbial rosella on the biscuit tin, always on the outside looking in.

This Gathering of Nations will be focusing on the clear need to prosecute this injustice and the absolute need for reparation, restitution and compensation will be part of a statement issued at the end of the Gathering.

First Nations and Peoples will take whatever action is necessary to ensure that our rights as First Nations will not be ignored any longer. There are moments in all our lives when we need to face the wrongdoings head-on.

The governments are understanding that as Peoples we no longer act in a knee-jerk response. We have come through a great period of challenge not knowing, most of the time, what the outcomes will be. But our Peoples stand firm now, arguing that white is no longer right (and never was).

Such stances will address our need to be vigilant and always be ready to defend our rightful place and to get back that which belongs to us, in order for our ancient cultures, the world's oldest, to flourish once again.

A press conference is planned for the day we deliver a statement. A media alert will be circulated. The revised agenda will be available here.