Invasion Day rallies in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will protest Indigenous Voice referendum

The annual ‘Invasion Day’ protests against January 26 as the date of Australia Day have taken an unexpected turn, with thousands of protesters set to demonstrate against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Indigenous Voice referendum on Parliament.

Indigenous rights demonstrations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on January 26 will protest the Federal Government’s plan to hold a national vote on the introduction of an advisory body for Aboriginal affairs in the constitution.

That’s because the organizers of the rally, including Green Senator Lidia Thorpe’s sister Meriki Onus, who is involved in planning the Melbourne protest, are calling for a national voice to emerge only after a treaty between the indigenous peoples and Australian governments.

Green Senator Lidia Thorpe’s sister, Meriki Onus (pictured), will lead thousands at the Melbourne Invasion Day rally on January 26.

More than 250 indigenous leaders endorsed the Voice during the Uluru talks in 2017, however a small group of delegates, including Senator Thorpe, walked out in protest.

Ms Onus, co-founder of the activist group Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, has confirmed that ‘Treaty Before Voice’ is the theme of this year’s demonstration in Melbourne. nine newspapers informed.

Meanwhile, posters announcing the Brisbane march read: ‘Sovereignty never relinquished. Treaty before a Voice to Parliament!’

Sydney rally co-organiser Gwenda Stanley reportedly criticized the referendum as a waste of money and adopted “sovereignty before Voice” as the city’s theme.

The Gomerio woman and caretaker at the Aboriginal Store Embassy in Canberra said indigenous people have never marched demanding ‘a voice’ and would prefer ‘self-determination’.

‘The main message that we must deliver [at the rally] is that, for many of us, we’re not for Voice, we’re for sovereignty,” Ms. Stanley told the Sydney Morning Herald.

‘This is about our self-determination as Aboriginal people, as original sovereigns of this country. We have never, ever marched through these streets chanting ‘we want a Voice.’

Activists will attend Invasion Day demonstrations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to mark the start of indigenous colonization by the British and protest the Indigenous Voice referendum to Parliament (pictured, Day protesters of the 2022 Invasion in Canberra)

Activist group Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance is calling for a national voice to be formed only after a treaty has been established between indigenous peoples and Australian governments (Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance rally poster pictured)

Earlier this month, the co-chair of the Uluru Dialogue, Professor Megan Davis, urged Australians to support the referendum.

The Voice “really makes a difference on the ground” and reassures First Nations people within Australia’s democratic system, he said.

The official Yes campaign is likely to launch late next month, and the public will be able to vote in the referendum starting in August.

On 1 January, Australian Indigenous Minister Linda Burney confirmed that the Albanian government wanted to introduce legislation to set up the Voice referendum “sometime in March”.

Activists criticized The Voice to Parliament as a modern example of indigenous rights being decided by “white people” (Invasion Day 2022 protesters in Melbourne pictured)

The government will then try to pass the legislation in May, after six weeks of scrutiny by a parliamentary committee.

This would allow for a public vote as early as August; however, there is speculation that October could be a likely date as the month is free of major distractions such as soccer finals and school holidays.

Ms Burney is optimistic that once the referendum is set, Australia will support it.

“Once everything is mobilized, I think we are going to have a country that is ready for change,” said Ms Burney.