Arnhem Land clan leader plans to vote No to Voice as treaty quest continues | ABC News

Описание: One of northern Australia's pre-eminent spiritual leaders and civil rights activists wants the nation to know why he's planning to vote No at the upcoming referendum on a Voice to Parliament.
Reverend Djiniyini Gondarra is not following any partisan political campaign.
Nearing his eighth decade, the Dhurili Nation clan leader from north-east Arnhem Land's Elcho Island is ailing, and acutely aware he doesn't have much time left on earth.
After 30 years, he's preparing to step aside from his role as chairman of the Arnhem Land Progress Association (ALPA), and pass the flame to the next generation.
But he's still doggedly pursuing his decades-long fight for a treaty between Aboriginal people and the Australian government, and believes anything less is a sacrifice.
"What difference is this Voice going to make?" Dr Gondarra said.
"That's my one concern.
"I will be voting No for a Voice.
"I would rather see more dialogue, diplomatic dialogue, where we're sitting down and talking about one thing: that we are one [of the only Commonwealth countries] in the world that has missed out on a treaty. A negotiation with the first people to understand whose land is it."
Dr Gondarra, who was Australia's first Aboriginal Methodist minister, isn't convinced that a Voice will lead to a treaty.
"As a leader of my nation and my church and my ceremony, I say: Voice is not going to make a difference," Dr Gondarra said.
"Our people – some of them have been elected in the government, or minister in the government.
"We have been in Greens, Labor, CLP or independent. We've got many of them and they've been there for many, many years.
"Everybody's been crying for how many years?"
Dr Gondarra's eldest daughter, Biritjalawuy Gondarra, said she and her family would follow her father's wishes regarding the referendum.
"Whenever leaders make decisions, we follow that. We apply to that," she said.
"We are subject to that Rom. The law."
A new documentary titled Luku Ngärra has been released about Dr Gondarra's life and sacred Yolŋu law (Rom).
It calls out the long-term impact of white Australian law and policies on Dr Gondarra's people.
The film traverses the changes brought to Arnhem Land during his lifetime, from the arrival of missionaries to the pain inflicted by the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NT Intervention).
It pointedly hones in on Australia's failure to accept Dr Gondarra's cultural authority, his Rom, through the creation of a treaty — something promised by prime minister Bob Hawke in 1988 but never delivered.
Luku Ngärra director Sinem Saban said Dr Gondarra was steadfast on the path he was travelling.
She said he was equivalent to Australia's Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi – the Indian political and civil rights leader of last century who practised nonviolence.
"He places people in their hearts," Saban said.
"He wants to unite Australia on a spiritual level and through justice for his people, but without taking anything from us [non-Indigenous Australians]," she said.
Although Dr Gondarra isn't tied to any of the referendum campaigns, his views about focusing on a treaty as opposed to a Voice are shared by prominent anti-Voice campaigners such as Djab Wurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjamara woman and independent Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe.
Views on the Voice are by no means uniform across the Yolŋu leadership of north-east Arnhem Land.
Northern Territory independent MLA Yiŋiya Guyula, a close confidante of Dr Gondarra and equally staunch and lifelong campaigner for a treaty, says he's planning to vote Yes at the referendum.
In a speech at the Garma Festival earlier in August, Mr Guyula conceded he had concerns about the Voice concept.
"However, I believe we need to try this. We need to vote Yes," he said.
"We need to hope for something better, and we need to keep moving towards treaty and truth-telling.
"The change to the constitution that recognises that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the first peoples of Australia is very important."
Others, including the Dilak Council on the Gove Peninsula, have given their full support to the Voice.

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