Why Lidia Thorpe’s Blak Sovereign movement is not supporting Anthony Albanese’s ‘Indigenous Voice to Parliament’

The official ‘no’ campaign has been accused of being racist by an indigenous group opposed to the referendum, and described as retrograde by an organization dedicated to promoting the Uluru Statement of the Heart.

The Blak Sovereign Movement, backed by Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, released its criticism of the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns on Thursday.

“We understand that many well-meaning people are hurt by being forced by the ‘yes’ campaign, or are afraid to vote ‘no’ because of the racism of the conservative ‘no’ campaign,” it said in a statement.

While Kirstie Parker, Uluru Dialogue’s strategic adviser, said opinions differ markedly among First Nations people, some of the information published by the Blak Sovereign Movement was just as inaccurate as the official ‘no’ campaign.

Ms Parker also said some rhetoric from the ‘no’ campaign was ‘quite outrageous’ and aimed at instilling fear and ignorance.

“We’ve seen at least one senator extol the virtues of the stolen generations, a long-discredited government policy from which our people have yet to fully recover and may never fully recover,” she said.

And we’ve also seen people attacking the identities of anyone who dared to stand up and speak the truth to power.

“It’s really retrograde and I’d say to them, the 1950s called and they want their attitude back.”

Australians will be asked this year if they support an Indigenous advisory body to be enshrined in the constitution.

The Blak Sovereign Movement says it opposes the First Nations vote because it will be powerless and a “destructive distraction.”

“Recognizing sovereignty and telling the truth are key to real change,” the group said.

“There are options that will have a meaningful impact today.

“It starts with the truth.”

The movement targeted the official ‘no’ campaign, saying the 10 reasons to vote ‘no’, published in an Australian Electoral Commission pamphlet, were racist and terrifying.

Ms Parker, a Yuwallarai woman from northwest NSW, is a former co-chair of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples – a national advisory body set up by the Labor government in 2009.

The federal coalition government withdrew funding from Congress in 2013, which was forced to shut down in 2019 after reserves were exhausted.

“That was devastating because it said our people’s efforts to have a say on the things that matter to us came to naught,” said Ms. Parker, a former journalist and editor.

“Then we have had years without a national voice for our people and we have seen our people suffer.

“The voice is a body that doesn’t have to worry about saying something that governments don’t agree with and being debunked.”

Proponents of a vote have pointed out that a “no” vote is a vote for the status quo.

“The Closing the Gap framework that was introduced in 2008 now has 19 targets and four of them have regressed,” said Ms Parker.

“Some of the others we don’t even know if there’s movement or not because we don’t have enough data — that says we need to do more.”

Polls conducted by the Uluru Dialogues have shown that 83 percent of Indigenous people support the vote.

“And while people may say, ‘don’t have a voice, do this instead,’ I would like to say to them, what can we do now to reduce the number of young people who commit suicide?” said Mrs. Parker.

“What can we do now to get our children ready and on track so they can thrive in education and all the statistics that we know are abhorrent to any decent Australian?”

The ‘yes’ case will require support from a majority of the population and majorities in four of the six states for the referendum to pass.

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Aboriginal Advisory Services 0410 539 905