Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says state premiers are failing to heed the message of the Voice referendum and advancing a racist agenda pushed by an Indigenous minority – as NSW begins paving the way for an Indigenous treaty.
The NSW government led by Labor Premier Chris Minns yesterday announced it would appoint three three commissioners as part of a $5 million commitment to explore the possibilities of a treaty with Indigenous communities.
LNP Senator Price said Mr Minns ignored the result of last year’s federal Voice referendum and instead listened to an urbanized activist class that did not reflect the wider Indigenous community.
LNP Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has hit out at state premiers pursuing state-based votes and treaties with Indigenous Australians
“Not only did Australians and especially NSW Australians vote no to The Voice, but they also voted no to concepts associated with the Voice, which were treaty and truth,” said Senator Price, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians.
The Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which is described in its foundational document, the Uluru Statement from the Heart, as part of a process towards truth-telling and a treaty, was rejected by more than 60 percent of voters last October.
Senator Price also pointed out that a recent vote for a vote for the South Australian Parliament saw only a 10 percent turnout of those eligible to vote.
In the areas where the most marginalized indigenous people live, only about 300 of the 2,000 eligible voters voted.
“The prime ministers who think they know what is best for their constituents are perpetuating separatism in our country,” she told Sydney radio station 2GB on Friday.
“It’s dangerous, it’s useless and in a democratic nation like ours, this will put us behind in 2024.”
Senator Price said poor turnout in South Australia and at the elections for the First Assembly of Victoria showed that only a minority of urbanized Indigenous activists were putting forward concepts such as voice and treaty.
“It’s a ridiculous idea, it’s a racist idea to say that we all think the same as a race,” Senator Price said.
“We don’t treat any other race of people this way, but we continue to use progressive, left-wing leaders to emphasize that idea, which is a racist stereotype.
The NSW Labor government led by Premier Chris Minns spends $5 million exploring options for signing a treaty with Indigenous people
“We know that when you stand up and call yourself a victim and you attack anyone who listens with this idea, there are those in power who will fall at your feet and give you what you want.
“Just because we’re Indigenous doesn’t mean we’re all marginalized. In fact, only 20 percent of the three percent of us are marginalized and our efforts must focus on the marginalized.”
Senator Price joined Warren Mundine, her fellow no-vote campaigner in the Voice referendum, in condemning the push to exempt Indigenous people from land tax, loan interest and university fees as part of a Victorian treaty .
‘It’s absolutely outrageous. It’s more rent-seeking,” she said.
“To suggest that the rest of Victoria, non-Indigenous Victoria, should put their hands in their pockets and pay their taxes so that they go to people of racial and mixed heritage is simply ridiculous.
“It’s separatism, it causes fear, it causes division within communities.”
Senator Price said Indigenous politics had been dominated by an urbanized activist class
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has not ruled out including race-based financial benefits in a treaty with the state’s indigenous people, negotiations to take place later this year.
Prominent Indigenous elder Auntie Jill Gallagher AO has made the case for a range of financial benefits the government should consider for the treaty, including exempting Indigenous people from stamp duty and council rates.
Appearing on Sky News, Mr Mundine branded the demands a “brain fart” and said they would make no practical difference to the major issues facing indigenous people.
On Friday, Senator Price was also asked by 2GB’s Mark Levy about her hometown of Alice Springs, where a curfew has been imposed on young people following a riot.
Senator Price said this was a welcome change for the crime-ridden city, but she feared what would happen if the curfew was lifted next Tuesday.
“We can’t live this way long-term,” she said.
“We need to get our community back to the way it used to be, instead of normalizing this type of behavior because we don’t see it anywhere else.”
She said Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney needed to take action and “get serious about policies that are going to improve the lives of marginalized Indigenous Australians”.