Several things happened recently that sparked awareness of the overbearing infiltration of Aboriginal recognition into every aspect of our lives.
The Concert
Firstly, when attending a Symphony Orchestra concert, an introduction began with recognition of the original tribes who lived in the area, who sang and danced on this land. What is not mentioned is the same people who travelled out of some corner of Africa, eventually settling in Britain and Europe thousands of years ago evolved to produce magnificent music and instruments which the audience came and paid to enjoy and celebrate the finesse.
Those who ended up on this continent adapted to the landscape to survive yet failed to evolve beyond a nomadic culture and economy, that is, until the British arrived in 1788. Australian Aborigines benefited from the mandate given to the leader of the First Fleet, Captain Arthur Philip, that all in the colonies, including the natives, would be equal before the law. Having just spent considerable Admiralty treasure and lives fighting slavery around the world, Britain determined there were to be no slaves in New South Wales (site of the first settlement). Philip proved true to his word. Aboriginal men and women in Australia received the right to vote before women in Britain, without having to fight for it. Not that one would know it, given the constant refrain for recognition and rights and apologies.
According to Reconciliation Australia, incorporating welcoming and acknowledgement protocols into official meetings and events recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) peoples as the Traditional Owners of land and shows respect, aimed at overcoming long history of exclusion from Australian history books, the Australian flag, the Australian anthem and for many years, Australian democracy. RA believes this flawed history of dispossession and colonisation lies at the heart of the disparity between ATSI and other Australians today. By including recognition of ATSI peoples in events, meetings and national symbols contributes to ending the exclusion that they feel has been so damaging.
The Street Sweeper
The second incident involved Shaun Taylor, a (former) street sweeper with the Darebin City Council in outer Melbourne, who objected to the Monday morning toolbox meeting of seven people beginning with a Welcome to Country and recognition of elders, past, present and emerging. For protesting the necessity of doing so at a simple meeting scheduled to outline the week’s work ahead, Shaun was sacked. If someone needed to be recognized and thanked, Shaun said, it was the military who had put their lives on the line to protect the country from invasion. In expressing his views, he particularly said he had nothing against Aborigines (he has several Aboriginal relatives).
Having touched a trigger point of annoyance to most Australians, Shaun Taylor sparked headlines in news and TV media. General consensus being the Darebin City Council should focus on local government business, roads, rates and rubbish and leave politicking about Aborigines alone.
Yoorrook
Despite more than 60% of Australians voting against the Voice referendum, including Aboriginal Australians, the socialist Victorian government conducted a Yoorrook “truth telling” royal commission. The Yoorrook Final Report was presented, to be followed by introduction of a voice to parliament, negotiation of a treaty and, of course, compensation.
Erudite internationally renowned economist, author, educator and journalist Henry Ergas, wrote a scathing critique of Yoorrook in The Australian (4 July 2025). Ergas believes that claims of genocide, cultural genocide and linguicide remain undefined and unchallenged by any alternative point of view, and in that regard, the Report is dishonest. He asks, as we all might,
Why have the enormous, ongoing transfers – of land, of royalties, of public subsidies – failed to alleviate entrenched disadvantage? According to the report, because they just weren’t enormous enough.
The Breakup of Australia
Historian Keith Windschuttle answers this question in his forensic historical analysis of the issues in his 2016 book (before the Voice referendum) The Breakup of Australia: The Real Agenda Behind Aboriginal Recognition. According to Windschuttle, early Aboriginal leaders sought assimilation. However their wishes were overturned by Nugget Coombes, a white government official who held sway over indigenous policy for many decades. Coombes believed Aborigines should be free to live upon and administer their own lands. That turned out well! Like so many lands, farms and developments returned to native populations world-wide, productive capacity failed, resulting in ensuing poverty.
Anglican Vicar, Steven Etherington, cited in Windschuttle’s book (p141), in 2001 after 23 years on remote communities, lamented the infantalisation of Aborigines who had become a ‘kept’ people of whom there were no expectations: to grow or find their own food, build their own homes, buy or repair their own vehicles, seek education or send their children to school. Child abuse and domestic violence were rife. He recognised Erosion of the capacity for initiative and self-help are virtually complete.
Etherington’s exasperation was reinforced in remarks by indigenous MP Alison Anderson, on taking office as Minister for Indigenous Advancement, 1 November 2012:
I admit that sometimes I despair at the reluctance of some Indigenous people to take the jobs that are already there. I look at the men of Yirrkala and ask why they will not drive the 20km to Nhulunbuy to earn excellent money in the mine and processing plant there. These are the kinds of questions the rest of Australia has been asking for years as it tries to connect the dots. Tries to understand why a long-running mining boom can exist literally next door to a culture of entitlement and welfare dependency.
Continent vs Constitution
Much of the propaganda pushing for ever greater recognition and privileges for Aborigines, regardless of how little blood line they carry, is based on conflation between the continent and the Constitution.
Certainly, Aborigines that arrived 50-60,000 years ago, having wandered from a corner of Africa, were the first to people this continent, which they had to themselves for tens of thousands of years, skilfully adapting to the land. Others from the same corner of Africa who ended up in what is now Europe or Britain evolved to create buildings, infrastructure, machinery, art, music and instruments, language and law. It would have been a shock for Aborigines to see ships, military, clothing and weapons on arrival of the first fleet.
The High Court’s 1992 Mabo decision of ‘terra nullius’ used to justify British colonization of Australia recognized the existence of native title. This decision acknowledged that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) peoples had existing rights to their land based on their traditional laws and customs, rights that predate British settlement.
Conversely, the Constitution of Australia was a pragmatic document, an arrangement between six colonies and territories about how to simplify management of a vast land mass. Each of the colonies (States) continued responsibilities for internal services, while the Federal government responsibilities covered currency, excise and external matters such as defence. Under the Constitution, all people are equal under the law, Aborigines included. Australia became a nation only on federation in 1901 and passing of the Constitution in 1902.
Myths (lies) about the Constitution perpetrated by Aboriginal activists such as Megan Davis and George Williams, demonstrated as untrue by Windschuttle (p193), include:
- Aborigines had no voice in drafting.
- Founders of the nation saw no place for ATSI people.
- Aborigines were denied the vote by all colonial parliaments before Federation.
- The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 denied the vote to Aborigines after federation.
- The Constitution did not recognise Aboriginal people, who only gained citizenship after the successful 1967 referendum.
- Section 51(xxvi) rewritten after the referendum could still be used to discriminate against Aborigines.
- Section 25 of the Constitution is definitely a piece of racial discrimination.
Windschuttle forensically debunks all these myths upon which the Voice, Treaty and Truth referendums, commissions, activism and intrusion into every aspect of our lives are built. Closing the Gap between remote Aboriginal health, education and social wellbeing will be closed, not by lifting the nomadic stone age culture to merge with the best of life, law and language of the British settlers or the wave of immigrants since, but by dragging us all back.
Enough that Aborigines are recognized and excel in white man’s sport, theatre and politics (eleven representatives are in federal parliament) we all celebrate. Enough that Aborigines benefit from the many who put their lives on the line to advance their wellbeing in remote communities like Vicar Etherington. Enough that some myth of Aboriginal physics and mathematics is supposed to enhance learning standards for our children. Enough that the enormous bounty of over $34 billion invested annually in their welfare, recognition in a dozen days a year special to them, and at every meeting, arrival, conference, business and event. As Shaun Taylor objected at the toolbox meeting, Enough!!!
Time to get with Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Do an audit of where all the money has disappeared to like a Hamas sinkhole in Doha. Put a sunset clause on every special Aboriginal program and organization so that within a generation Aborigines are truly equal with the rest of us, out working, running businesses, employing people, paying taxes, sharing the load, not increasing the load with demands on others always to do more, pay more, blame more, expect more, without any concomitant responsibility.
Reasonable expectation is an essential element of raising anyone out of infantilization into maturity. Expectation, choice and responsibility are three components of my Maturity Model for decision making. Aborigines claim to have looked after themselves for thousands of years. Nothing at all to stop them from doing so now. We would all be cheering.
And leave Australia Day alone. Aborigines have endless recognition. Leave the rest of us one day, the day of the first British settlement at Sydney Cove, 26th January 1788, to celebrate the marvelous, if imperfect experiment in democracy that has evolved since.
In the 233 years since the first British settlement this continent has evolved and changed. Aboriginal sovereignty over all of us and the lands as challenged by Aboriginal activists would be as disastrous as the many opportunities for advancement already ceded to them.
Afterall, sovereignty means being responsible for the State and abandoning victimhood. Hard to see 3% of the population achieving that, even with dominion over most of the continent.