“We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart:
Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial', and according to science more than 60,000 years ago
This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature', and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown
How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?
With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia's nationhood
Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future
These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness
We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country
We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution
Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination
We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history
In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.”
Come On Down:
Society's enormous
Alienation breeds
Loneliness so sad
We need company
Get off those little screens
And find out what it all means
Gather round the campfire
The campfire of humankind
Come on Down
Come on Down
To the stompin' ground
Come on Down
Faces are glowing
Strange music plays
Smoke adds distortion
In a magical way
Time passes freely
We're all passing through
A night round the campfire
Gonna do it for you
Come on Down
Come on Down
To the stompin' ground
Come on Down
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