Australia should reject “low bar politics” and act with the courage of Indigenous land rights leader Vincent Lingiari to fight for constitutional recognition and a voice to parliament, Thomas Mayor will argue in the annual Lingiari lecture.
The Torres Strait Islander man, Uluru Statement from the Heart advocate and maritime union member will give the annual oration at the Freedom Day festival in the remote Northern Territory community of Kalkaringi on Friday evening.
The festival honours the historic 23 August 1966 Wave Hill walk-off, which was led by Lingiari, who, after generations of exploitation, violence and meagre rations, called for his land rights to be recognised.
Mayor will use the story of the Wave Hill stockmens’ subsequent seven-year strike to push for a constitutionally enshrined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to ensure First Nations peoples are heard by governments.
“For far too long, naysayers have told us to lower our sights and dampen our aspirations for change because of some lazy speculation that the Australian people won’t support real change for our mob … We cannot allow this low bar politics to hold us back,” he will say, according to an advance copy of the speech.
“We cannot aim low. We must not dampen our aspirations for change. We must work hard, as Lingiari did. We must have courage, as Lingiari did.”
The Albanese government is working towards constitutionally enshrining an Indigenous voice, with plans to hold a referendum as early as next year.
“A voice to parliament would amplify our transparent presentation of the solutions to parliament, instead of the parliament amplifying our problems for political gain and to create cover for their failures,” Mayor will say.
“Our voice can tell Australia the truth. Our voice can help make treaties. Our voice should be in the rule book – the constitution – as it should have been long ago.”
Mayor likens Lingiari’s struggle to be listened to and heard by federal and territory governments of the day with Indigenous people’s struggle today.
“They were hobbled by paternalism. They faced strictly imposed laws and policies decided far away from their influence in Darwin and in Canberra.”
The powerful protest culminated in prime minister Gough Whitlam’s historic ceremony and handing back some of the land to the traditional owners in 1975; paving the way for land rights across the NT and the country.
Mayor will speak about continuing power imbalances, scuppered progress on treaties and land rights and how successive governments have failed to hear Indigenous voices.
“Our people have made many statements and petitions: The petition to the king in the 1930s, the Yirrkala Bark Petitions in the 60s, the Larrakia petition to the Queen in the 70s, and the Barunga Statement in the 80s, just to name a few.
“And in this decade, the Uluru Statement from the Heart.”
But Mayor will say the push for change, for treaties and a strong voice has not led to enough changes, despite decades of campaigning, powerful advocacy and small steps towards progress.
He labels the abolition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission under the Coalition government in 2005 and the Northern Territory intervention in 2007 as failures.
“Every time Indigenous people have built a political voice on our own representation that has been capable of speaking up collectively and unapologetically, that has been capable of holding politicians to account for cruelty, negligence and ignorance … we have been silenced.”
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people need a voice that is protected from being silenced by hostile governments.”
Mayor describes Lingiari as “a visionary man who dared to pursue a dream of a new relationship with broader Australia – one where First Nations people and kartiya (white people) could live as mates.
“Let us learn from his legacy as we continue our walk toward our rightful place in our country.”
