Labor MP says rhetoric surrounding Welcome to Country shows terra nullius is still alive

Dechlan Brennan
Dechlan Brennan Published October 19, 2023 at 8.00am (AWST)

Northern Territory Labor MP Marion Scrymgour has said some of the rhetoric from no voters personified the views of terra nullius.

It comes as she criticised senators Lidia Thorpe and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price for perpetuating that Aboriginal people from rural areas voted No, something that has been proven to be false.

"Over recent weeks throughout this country there has been, at times, a belligerent chorus of ridicule and derision from a surprisingly large number of people directed at Welcome to Country ceremonies," said Ms Scrymgour, who has cultural links to the Tiwi islands and Central Australia.

"Underlying the ridicule and derision has been a view about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their place in this nation. The views of 'Let's pour scorn on Welcome to Country' is in effect saying that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders may well have been here before colonisation, but that shouldn't give them any ongoing or contemporary rights and status as first peoples—whether in relation to their traditional lands or anything else.

"That is basically the terra nullius view, and it is alive and well. This referendum has revealed some fault lines, and we are going to have to address them."

Ms Scrymgour, who represents the vast electorate of Lingiari, said in her part of Australia, she believed there had been movement away from terra nullius views.

"I'm not just talking about my Aboriginal constituents when I say that, but it is primarily my Aboriginal constituents I am thinking of now as we consider the way forward from here, because these things primarily concern them," she said.

"First Peoples who have survived the relatively recent history of colonisation in Lingiari include the Tiwi—my people—Yolngu, Mirarr and Jawoyn at the top; the Arrernte, Luritja, Warlpiri and Pitjantjatjara down the bottom; and so very many in between.

"They overwhelmingly voted yes to the proposition of recognition."

Communities in Australia with large Aboriginal populations overwhelmingly voted yes in the referendum over the weekend, including in the community where leading No campaigner and shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's family is from.

Whilst 58 per cent of Lingiari, which is 40 per cent Indigenous, voted No, 74 per cent of the 11,000 people that live in the remote areas of the electorate voted yes according to figures provided by Ms Scrymgour.

This includes Wadeye, at 92.1 per cent, the Tiwi Islands at 84 per cent and Maningrida, which recorded an 88 per cent yes vote.

On the weekend, Senator Price intimated that many regional Indigenous voters had been pressured by the AEC to vote yes, saying she believed many people were "exploited". This was heavily refuted by the AEC and condemned by Indigenous leaders on the Yes side.

The Labor MP was critical of Ms Price, as well as fellow No voter, independent senator Lidia Thorpe.

"I feel aggrieved that Senator Price and Senator Thorpe have each purported to speak on behalf of First Peoples communities in Lingiari, when the overwhelming yes result shows that their views have been totally rejected in those communities," she said.

"I feel aggrieved that Senator Price suggested, most insulting at all, that Aboriginal voters in the bush should not have been given how-to-vote cards when approaching a polling booth, while triumphantly embracing the no vote cast by untold thousands throughout the country who were assailed by no campaigners outside the polling booths, through social media and text messages with claims that a vote for the voice was a vote for reparations; or that the UN would be taking over; or that they would lose their backyards.

"I was even told a young man was voting no because black men rape their child every night."

She noted that whilst the "bush voted for that recognition to be confirmed and advanced through a voice," it wouldn't be by way of the constitution. She also noted that many in her electorate had voted no, and it was important to listen to all voices in the region.

"But there are other possible pathways and options, which will be the subject of discussion when I go back out bush to talk to my people and their communities in coming weeks and months," she said.

She finished by saying she would go back to help Indigenous people, despite being "stuck with a constitution built on a deliberate plan for exclusion and discrimination by way of race".

"I am looking forward to going back out and saying we have to build this country into a better country. I look forward to making sure that Aboriginal people take their rightful place in this country," she said.

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