Bindal elder Dorothy Savage: ‘We’ve been a war-torn country since 1788’
A Bindal and North Queensland woman says anyone who understands the stolen generation and injustices committed against Indigenous people understands the need for a Voice.
Townsville
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Bindal elders have taken an impassioned stance in support of constitutional recognition and a Voice to Parliament.
Aunties Florence Onus, Dorothy Savage and Gracelyn Smallwood took to a Townsville polling station on Wednesday to remind the public of injustices committed against Indigenous people and why a Voice to Parliament is needed.
“For 230 years, no one’s been listening to us, so we want a Voice,” Ms Savage said.
The Bindal elder drew a comparison between Australia accepting refugees from war-torn countries, but not reconciling that with Australia’s colonial past.
“We have been a worn-torn country since 26th of January, 1788.”
“Those who are aware of the struggles and the lifestyles that we’ve had to live with, the sad removal of our lands, from our lands, on to missions and reserves, well they understand why we’re voting yes.”
“I want a better future fore these children than what my father had with removal, better than what some of my family had with (the) stolen generation.”
The Bindal elder said a Voice to Parliament would make a difference in closing education and incarceration gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
“We want a Voice that carries our voice from grassroots, state, regional, to Canberra. Not Canberra telling us what to do.”
“We talk about youth crime, well we’ve got to talk about why the crime’s being committed. “What’s the intergenerational trauma affecting a lot of our children and our people?”
In Queensland last year, 40.9 of 10,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people aged 10-17 years were in detention on an average day, compared with 4.8/10,000 of the general population.
Ms Savage said No voters were fearful, for unfounded reasons.
“Remember when the Mabo decision came? The non-Indigenous people believed we were coming to take land, we were going to have the schools, we were going to own everything … none of it was true,” Ms Savage said.
“And that’s what’s happening now today, it’s fear mongering.”
In the age of the internet there was no excuse to be ignorant about what the proposed constitutional amendment meant, Ms Savage said.
An exit poll conducted by the Bulletin this week found 63 per cent of respondents said they voted No.
Many of the No voters cited bureaucracy, a “lack of detail” about the proposed amendment, and even crime rates as reasons they voted No.
But Bindal elder Florence Onus said the Voice question was not complicated.
“We’ve never had a seat at the table. All the decision makers are white people.”
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Originally published as Bindal elder Dorothy Savage: ‘We’ve been a war-torn country since 1788’
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