Recognising Indigenous rights – VGLRL
By GABRIEL ALEKSANDRS
The VGLRL is proud and excited to share in the celebrations and acknowledgements of NAIDOC Week. Rights of Indigenous Australians go hand-in-hand with GLBTI rights and human rights.
Recently, the Baillieu Government announced it would scrap mandatory acknowledgements of the traditional owners of the land in official meetings and events.
Under the previous Government, ministers were required to acknowledge Australia’s original peoples at all Government events. Now, these acknowledgements are done on a ‘case-by-case basis.’
Even a ‘discussion’ of the relevance of the need for Indigenous acknowledgement is something the VGLRL finds offensive at worst and dismissive at best. The fact that it is ‘up’ for discussion treats entire Indigenous nations and cultures, as well as the crime of genocide, displacement and neglect as some kind of afterthought that hinders the process of other more important things.
The VGLRL is appalled that in the same year our Indigenous brothers, sisters and gender queers have not only witnessed a rollback on their protections against discrimination under the Equal Opportunity Act but suffered a further blow.
This is through the reversal of the leadership required to acknowledge their existence, status within our nation, culture and intergenerational journeys, many of which contain immense grief and loss.
The VGLRL acknowledges that when we meet to discuss GLBTI rights these discussions are held on Indigenous land. We also acknowledge that any business of GLBTI rights discussed with politicians also includes the rights of Indigenous GLBTI people, their families, allies and loved ones. The GLBTI community should not consider itself exempt from reflecting upon the struggles of its Indigenous members. In addition, we should seek to end racism and embrace diversity.
The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs issued a media release at the start of NAIDOC Week with a call for mutual respect. While the VGLRL likes the sentiment, we would prefer to see the Government walk the talk when it comes to leadership.
The VGLRL salutes the work of OutBlack, Melbourne’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer & sistagirls group.
OutBlack and Songlines Aboriginal Music Corporation, the state’s peak Aboriginal music organisation, have joined forces to present a special NAIDOC Week music event, We Are Family, at the HiFi Bar, this Friday, July 8.
We urge you to head along and embrace cultural diversity, the diversity within Indigenous survival, and raise awareness within Melbourne’s GLBTI community of the struggle for rights that remain.
By Gabriel Aleksandrs, VGLRL Committee of Management member.
