The two parts of the Uluru Statement are;
- A Seventh state for “First Nations”
- The Declaration of Recognition (Independence)
1. Seventh state for “First Nations”
Remember Michael Mansell’s idea for a seventh state?
Well, it’s not much different to what the Uluru Statement asks for.
What is a state anyway?
To answer this – lets go back to the federation of Australia in 1901.
The word Federation – comes from Latin “foederatus” roughly meaning “treaty”.
In 1901, 6 British colonies of the Australasia region concluded a treaty with each other – the Federation of Australia. The federation treaty is about sharing powers over the land. It is a written treaty. The powers are divided up and written in the constitution of each of the parties to the treaty. For example – the Queensland Constitution lists the powers that Queensland has. The Australian Constitution act lists the powers that the federal government has.
The ongoing problem with the arrangement is that all of the colonies still act in the right of a foreign crown. It doesn’t matter how complicated their government is – or how they shift the deck chairs on the ship – it doesn’t change the fact that they act in the right of the Crown of England, and that Crown does not have the right to speak for country.
How can this ‘problem’ be fixed?
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have the right to speak for country. If their right to speak for country (their Voice) is also enshrined into the federation, then the federation will inherit the power to speak for country.
For this to happen, firstly the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people need to form a new state. To do this – they need to have their own constitutional convention to write their own constitution. This has already happened during the 2017 First Nations Constitutional Convention at Yulara. The next step is for the new First Nations state to become a party to the already existing treaty of federation.
Voice, Treaty, Truth. The Treaty is the federation. And it’s already negotiated, and has been in effect since 1901. First Nations can join in though a legitimate international process in accordance with Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties called “Accession”.
But most people wrongly think that a state must have it’s own land-base. But that is not true. There is such thing as non-territorial federalism. This already exists elsewhere in the world – for example French and Dutch speaking communities in Belgium have their own states, and the Saami people in Scandinavia also have their own state. But these states have no land, they are just representation of ethnic groups.
States don’t have to have any land at all.
Because most people don’t know this, they don’t recognise that the Voice is a state.
The Voice will have no land and barely any power. It will be reduced to a token mouthpiece to give the Australian federation the right to speak for country.
2. Declaration of Recognition/Independence
The second major part of the Uluru Statement is the Declaration of Recognition. This is in the Referendum Council Final Report, and it is an idea that came out of the think-tank Uphold and Recognise.
You may have never heard of it because it has flown under the radar in the Uluru Statement campaign. But it is in the Referendum Council Final Report as a key recommendation. It was in the media before the Yulara Convention and was promoted by Noel Pearson. But since Yulara it is very rarely discussed in the media. It is part of the Uluru Statement because it is in the Referendum Council Final Report.
In 1986, Australia passed the Australia Acts. The Australia Acts made Australia administratively independent. This means that the Crown can’t interfere in the administration of Australia.
But the Crown is still the ultimate source of authority for the Australian governments. The Crown is like a robot automatically approving anything the Australian people wish for, but the approval stamp is still needed for everything they do.
You can tell this because when representatives are sworn into parliament – they swear allegiance to the Crown – not to the Australian people. When someone is prosecuted of a crime, they are prosecuted by Crown prosecutors. It’s not like in America where it’s like “The people of the State of California vs. blah”. In Australia it’s in the right of the Crown “R. vs. blah”. A automatic, robo-Crown sits right at the top and ultimately signs off on everything.
The biggest problem for the colony is not that it is embarrassing to have a foreign, robo-Crown head-of-state – but that it means Australia has not decolonised. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are still under “alien subjugation, domination and exploitation”, and therefore they have the right under international law (A/RES/1514(XV)) to become independent in their own right if they so choose. If Aboriginal people figure out how to leverage these international laws on decolonisation – the colony will be under a lot of pressure.
To make sure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people do not exercise their rights as colonised peoples and overthrow or otherwise upset the Australian status-quo, the Uluru Statement reform package includes the Declaration of Recognition to pre-empt Aboriginal people’s right to decolonise on their own terms.
The Declaration of Recognition is an international declaration on behalf of three groups of people; First Nations people, White-Australia/colonial Australians, and later migrant Australians. The declaration asserts authority of those people over the land. As First Nations people are included – the declaration will be a legitimate form of decolonisation.
It will give the three waves of people together as one unit – the source of authority to speak for country. This authority can replace the foreign crown, and make Australia fully independent and able to stand in it’s own power. It paves the way for a truly democratic society without the robo-Crown middleman – but throws Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples under the bus while doing to.