Respect falters as resentment, racism and colonialism rise | Peter Goers

Of course none of the 60 per cent of Australians who voted against First Nations recognition will admit to racism but perhaps they are wolves in sheep’s clothing, writes Peter Goers.

It’s so nice to be acknowledged. It shows respect and regard. The dismal and comprehensive failure of the recent referendum to give constitutional recognition to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples has empowered racism.

Of course none of the 60 per cent of Australians who voted against First Nations recognition will admit to racism but perhaps they are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Aboriginal people have the oldest living civilisation in the world and have lived on and managed our vast continent for 65,000 years.

We white usurpers have lived here for 235 years or 0.361 per cent of the vast expanse of time that Aboriginal people have lived here.

Aboriginal people have been massacred, dispossessed, denied citizenship and all rights, enslaved, had their children stolen by governments, denied constitutional recognition and now we are further denying them an Acknowledgement of Country.

Some councils refused to allow Welcomes to Country or Acknowledgments of Country and now some other councils have cancelled such Welcomes or Acknowledgements and thus are denying the recognition of and respect for the age-old Aboriginal cultural heritage and relationship to land. For shame.

The Welcome to Country during the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide. Picture: Sarah Reed/Getty Images

The Northern Areas Council in Jamestown has dropped the Acknowledgement of Country from council meetings.

The Playford Council has dropped it from their meetings and it will only be read at civic functions if approved by the administration. That council’s Aboriginal Acknowledgement has also been whitewashed to include “our forbears that (sic) have contributed in (sic) building and defending our great nation”. This was passed by a majority of Playford councillors who have suspect grammar and the result lessens the acknowledgment of Aboriginal people by also acknowledging the people who killed and dispossessed Aboriginal people. In the service of assumed inclusivity the Council congratulated itself on the “symbolicness” (I’m quoting) of the new acknowledgment and that “it takes guts” to diminish Aboriginal people by cancelling the customary Acknowledgement.

The Murray Bridge Council’s Acknowledgement of Country also acknowledges “global pioneers”. Who are they? Yuri Gagarin, Neil Armstrong, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos? I have no idea.

Meanwhile the oppression never ends. Angry racists took to the streets in Ballarat this week with “Australia For The White Man” banners. They’d be overjoyed by the whitewashing or cancelling of Aboriginal recognition. The referendum has stoked resentment, racism and colonialism.

The Australia Day Council refuses to mandate a Welcome to or Acknowledgement of Country at the council events it heavily funds all over our nation. Now councils are further empowered to ignore Aboriginal civilisation.

The Acknowledgement is a reassuring protocol which does only good. It is, perhaps, repeated too often at official functions. One Welcome or Acknowledgement suffices but every politician repeats it as lip service. This repetition has become tedious, though well-meant.

We need to pay respect to Aboriginal people. We need the awareness the Acknowledgement gives. We need to pay respect to Aboriginal people. We need the awareness the Acknowledgement gives. It has been claimed “we’ve all got better life expectancy” thanks to modern, multicultural Australia. Well, no. Aboriginal life expectancy remains 20 years shorter

Yes, we are one nation but we have a vast past of Aboriginality which needs heartfelt appreciation and recognition. When we honour our First Nations peoples, we honour ourselves and their land they share with us. The great Aboriginal Digger, Reg Saunders said “stories are most powerful in the place they’re from”. All our stories, spirits and souls are connected to place.

An Acknowledgement of Country respects an ancient connection on which our nation is based. Flesh fades and fades. The earth and spirits go on Dreaming.