Treaty Now?

By Keiran Stewart-Asheton

Australian Aboriginals have never ceded sovereignty. There has never been an official declaration of surrender, nor has there been any other sort of treaty or agreement that relinquishes indigenous sovereignty or sets a path forward with which indigenous and non-indigenous Australians can walk together as we strive for a better, more equal world.

I used to believe a treaty would be a good thing. I used to believe it would solve so many of the problems that make up the plight of indigenous Australians, or at the very least, pave the way to their solution.

And in theory it sounds great, having some sort of formal agreement that ensures equality and equity for indigenous people, an agreement that forces it’s signatories to abide by its terms.

But it isn’t.

Not in practice.

Not when you consider New Zealand, The United States of America, and Canada.

These countries, like Australia, were all colonised by Britain. But unlike Australia these nations also all have treaties with their First Peoples. But unfortunately these countries also share something else in common: a dark and hidden shame that is the social predicament of their First Peoples. They all share a gross overrepresentation of indigenous people in statistics relating to unemployment rates, low numeracy and literacy competence, and the impoverishment that accompanies it. They share a common theme of poor housing standards and high rates of homelessness for their First Peoples; they share statistics that reflect the inequality of access to health care, and a population in the justice system that is dramatically disproportionate to their non-indigenous counterparts.

Treaties haven’t stopped these social injustices from happening.

Treaties haven’t stopped the protests over land rights and the access to ancestral lands that are still being fought for today in places like the United States and Canada, where after over 400 years we still have ongoing resistance to colonial rule, where indigenous people are still fighting the destruction of their ancestral hunting grounds and sacred sites for profit, despite treaties being in place specifically to protect these things.

“Treaties haven’t prevented the fact that indigenous people living in some of the world’s most prosperous nations continue to suffer, the presence of a treaty has done very little, if anything, to minimise and mitigate the negative impacts upon the colonised people of these countries”

This is because these nations do not respect their treaties. They do not view them as the significant founding documents they are. They are merely viewed as recommendations and footnotes that can be ignored and disregarded when needed. Governments even go so far as to introduce laws and legislation that restrict the interpretation of these treaties, and regulate the power that they hold for indigenous people, while increasing the authority and power granted to governments and corporations.

There is no inclination to suggest that Australia would act any differently or that Australia would respect a treaty with its indigenous population. In fact, when you view Australia’s history and past actions towards indigenous rights, it becomes quite apparent that Australia wouldn’t respect or adhere to a treaty with its indigenous people.

When you consider Australia’s history of watering down indigenous rights whenever we manage to claim them, such as the restrictive land rights laws brought in as a result of the Mabo case and the overturning of ‘Terra Nullius’. When you consider the farce that is the Native Title Act, an act that is still being modified behind closed doors to cater for corporations that seek to destroy the ancestral lands and sacred sites of indigenous people to turn a profit, such as in the recent case in Queensland where Native Title was extinguished to make way for an Adani Coal mine in the Gallilee Basin.

Consider also Australia’s modern history, of suspending racial discrimination laws so that they can make indigenous specific laws. Laws that are then enforced against a civilian population with the strength of the Australian military, such as during the Northern Territory Intervention, a crime perpetrated against the indigenous people of the Northern Territory to make way for mining and logging companies that wanted to extract resources from indigenous lands.

Then of course there is the fact that Australia doesn’t even abide by the international treaties that it is already a signatory to! It regularly breaches the Seven Core International Human Rights Treaties with regards to the Australian Government’s treatment of not just indigenous people, but refugees and other minority demographics as well.

When you consider how systematically racist the institution of the Australian Government is, and how all of these other colonised nations have “respected” their treaties, you realise just how pointless having a treaty would be.

“Any powers, rights and privileges a treaty granted indigenous people would still be at the mercy of the Australian Government. The government could and would still suspend the treaty, make legislation to restrict it, or just straight up disregard and ignore it whenever it benefits corporations and the interests of the government itself. There would be very little, if anything, that we could actually do about it.”

A treaty isn’t the answer, at least not when it is signed with a capitalist government that will always put profits before people, corporations before sustainability, and money before morals.

The only way a treaty could carry weight in Australia is if it were signed with a socialist government that respected the sovereignty and interests of indigenous Australians. A socialist government that prioritised the rights, privileges, and struggles of its most exploited and disadvantaged people. Only then would a treaty be worth anything more than the piece of paper it was written on.