Michael Anderson backs Nyoongar Embassy in Perth

Goodooga, northwest NSW, 19 February 2012 - - The last surviving co-founder of the Aboriginal Embassy in Canberra has expressed his support for the Nyoongar Embassy encampment set up on Heirisson Island in Perth a few days ago and now under threat of eviction.

Michael Anderson, leader of the Euahlayi tribe, endorses the call by Robert Eggington, spokesman of the Nyoongar Embassy, that it’s the Perth City Council that should “move on”.

State, Territory and federal governments should now be seeking legal advice on the true nature of the Aboriginal sovereignty claim as it will not be going away, Anderson writes in a media release.

“Our assertion of sovereignty over this continent is real and legally just. It is in English Law, and the English and the Australians have no choice but to deal with it in a mature and just manner,” he argues.

He says Aborigines now foresee Australian governments depending very heavily on police to terrorize the sovereignty movement, “rather than speak to us, as one would expect diplomacy would dictate”.

“We are in the process of alerting the Secretary-General of the United Nations to our sovereignty movement. If necessary, we will be calling upon the United Nations to send in peace keepers to prevent our people from being harassed and terrorized.”

“The Nyoongar Embassy spokesperson, Mr. Eggington, is correct when he says that the offer of $1billion for the city area of Perth and their Native Title claim area is a joke of monumental proportions. Some of the house blocks in the more affluent areas of Perth are collectively worth more. Then to say to the people that they cannot access any of the money for 10 years is an insult.”

Anderson warns of the danger of Aboriginal society in the Perth area imploding from fighting over whether to accept or reject the offer.

Anderson’s statement in full:

I am in support of the Western Australian Nyoongar Nations establishment of their Embassy and it is interesting to see through the media, that the Perth City Council had served them with a written notice to quit the occupied lands where the Embassy is now situated.

A spokesperson for the Nyoongar Embassy, Mr. Robert Eggington, made a statement to the effect it is the Perth city council who should move on. This is somewhat ironic.

In fact, it is the state, Territory and federal governments of Australia who should now be seeking legal advice on the true nature of the Aboriginal sovereignty claim as it will not be going away. Our assertion of sovereignty over this continent is real and legally just. It is in English Law, and the English and the Australians have no choice but to deal with it in a mature and just manner.

We expect that the Australian governments will now depend very heavily upon their police to terrorize our sovereignty movement, rather than speak to us as one would expect diplomacy would dictate. But the use of force will clearly demonstrate that each of the governments, from the Federal level down to the municipal councils, will demonstrate to the Australian public that they find themselves under siege. Consequently, they will choose to use superior force.

Call for UN peacekeepers if necessary

We are in the process of alerting Secretary-General of the United Nations to our sovereignty movement and are calling upon him to invoke UN General Assembly resolution 2625 (XXV)(A 8082) 24 October1970, called:
The Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning friendly relations and co-operation among States in accordance with the charter of the United Nations.
In this resolution is the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples:
Every State has the duty to promote, through joint and separate action, realization of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter, and to render assistance to the United Nations in carrying the responsibilities and entrusted to it by the Charter regarding the implementation of the principle announced in order;
(b) to bring about a speedy end to colonialism, having due regard to the free and expressed will of the peoples concerned;
and bearing in mind that subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a violation of the principle, as well as a denial of fundamental human rights, and is contrary to the charter.

The establishment of a sovereign and independent State, the free association or integration with an independent state or the emergence into any other political status freely determined by a people constitute modes of implementing the right of self-determination by that people.
The territory of a colony or other Non-Self Governing Territory has, under the Charter, a status separate and distinct from the territory of the State administering it; and such separate and distinct status under the Charter shall exist until the people of the colony or Non-Self Governing Territory have exercised their right to self-determination in accordance with the Charter, and particularly its purposes and principles.
Nothing in the foregoing paragraphs shall be construed as authorizing or encouraging any actions which dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign independent States conducting themselves in compliance with the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples as described above, and thus possess of a government representing the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour.

Formal discussions for national unity

It is our position that it is in the best interest for all concerned that the Australian governments commence formal discussions with us in respect to creating national unity, just as we Aboriginal peoples are doing. Failure to take these steps can only bring the Australian governments into conflict and disrepute with the UN Resolution cited here.

If necessary, we will be calling upon the United Nations to send in peace keepers to prevent our people from being harassed and terrorized by state police who will be acting under orders from their respective states.

The Nyoongar Embassy spokesperson, Mr. Eggington, is correct when he says that the offer of $1billion for the city area of Perth and their Native Title claim area is a joke of monumental proportions. Some of the house blocks in the more affluent areas of Perth are collectively worth more. Then to say to the people that they cannot access any of the money for 10 years is an insult.

But then, one should not be surprised, because this correlates with the advice of Tony Abbott’s friend Noel Pearson of Cape York: To keep money out of the reach of Aboriginal people so that they cannot use it to establish their own economy and thereby gain an equal footing with the oppressor society. On this point we only have to look at the federal government’s regulatory control of the Indigenous Land Corporation and Indigenous Business Australia.

It is, as it is in Africa, the blacks own the land but not their economy and the dominant non-Aboriginal society here in Australia observe and operate the same rules.

The non-Aboriginal governments’ business relationships with the multinational corporations work in concert against Aboriginal people, to keep them out of reach of earning a decent income from royalties. Furthermore, just as the Western Australian government is proposing, with their offer to buy Perth off the Nyoongars, they offer pittance. They then rely on the psychology in the community, because they choose words in the media to transfer blame.

Psychological games with the poor and depressed

They know how to play these psychological games with the poor and depressed section of the community. They spread the word that you, as the leaders, threaten any possible chance of them getting their hands on money knowing that even under their plans this will never happen. This course of action on the part of the State is clever because it will stand back and watch our own people implode, because the government will put out a media statement so as to shift the blame if this offer is taken off the table, knowing full well that the people may turn on each other. The implosion will focus on the Embassy people, because some may fear that they are losing something for themselves and their children. But this is so far from the truth.

To accept this offer is to sell your sovereign right down the drain. This is what is now happening all over the country. The government can stand back and say that it has bought the country from us, for a position on a joint management committee through an Indigenous Land Use Agreement, or a consent agreement that yields our people nothing like a right that we have as sovereign peoples.

The Western Australia government has a number of problems that they must now deal with, rather than focus their attempt to move the Nyoongar Embassy. In the original Western Australian Constitution Sections 70 and 71 entrenched the separate identity of Aboriginal Peoples, but sections 70 and 71 were later removed illegally. This illegality is confirmed when we read the 1986 Australia Act from the English parliament. In a Schedule to this English-Australian Act they ‘validate’ both the Western Australian and Queensland Constitutions. Now I guess we should all ask why is this so?
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Contact: Michael Anderson 0427 292 492 02 68296355 ghillar29@gmail.com