Lidia Thorpe urges Anthony Albanese to call off referendum on the Voice – and unveils an alternative five-point plan involving treaties and truth

Lidia Thorpe has urged the government to call off the referendum and instead implement a five-step plan that would “do more for our people than any vote could or would ever do”.

The former Greens senator who became independent gave an impassioned speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday to ignore symbolic gestures from the then-government and start negotiating treaties.

“This is the beginning of a revolution of change and justice… if we do this through respect and understanding, we can create peace,” she said.

Ms Thorpe said she is advocating for the government on behalf of her people to implement some of the recommendations made in reports in terms of numbers of Indigenous incarcerations and the removal of children from homes.

She doesn’t think a Voice to Parliament will have any power to make demonstrable change among First Nations people, and instead argues that there are ways to improve lives without a referendum.

‘There is no progress. There is false hope. We deserve better,” she said.

“That is why we have to call off the referendum. It has caused nothing but damage and division, and for what? There will be no change until this society changes.

“What we need is an end to the war against our people that started the day the boats arrived.”

Instead of a constitutionally enshrined vote, Ms. Thorpe wants a five-pronged strategy to improve the lives of First Nations people, guided by truth-telling and enduring.

She said it would be critical for the government to implement the recommendations of three separate reports: the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, the Bringing them Home report and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. peoples.

Ms Thorpe said telling the truth should be the start of reconciliation, to avoid shrinking from ‘the brutal past and ongoing colonial violence’, and said a treaty would be ‘a sign of maturity’.

“This country, your system of government, is built on lies. Lies! And the Voice to Parliament referendum is a continuation of these lies,” she said.

‘It promises to finally solve the Aboriginal problem. It’s false hope because it leads people to sincerely believe that a powerless advisory body is going to protect our land and holy places, save our lives and keep our babies at home.

‘The Voice is the showcase for Constitutional Recognition. We have rejected the Constitutional Recognition before.’

The government has repeatedly expressed the primacy of parliament in their proposal, arguing that the vote will be advisory and address only matters that directly and otherwise affect First Nations people.

Mrs Thorpe says this is exactly the problem.

While most of the No campaigners worry that the Voice has too much power, too broad a scope, Ms Thorpe’s concerns are the opposite.

She says, “The Voice can’t give us what we need.

“It has no power to return land, provide services, distribute resources, legislate or even block racist laws. It cannot build a single house for our people.

In fact, there is no guarantee that anything will happen. The Voice is subordinate to the federal government. To the system that oppressed us since colonization.

“The Voice is the easy way to fake progress without actually having to change anything. It’s a destructive distraction.”

More to come