Representatives of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy say they will not support an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and will urge others to vote "no" against a referendum at Thursday's protests in the national capital.
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A statement from the embassy's governing committee will dismiss the Albanese government's key election promise, claiming supporters are "deceptively" suggesting they speak for the majority of Aboriginal voices.
It is expected to be read out on Thursday by Gomeroi elder Uncle Lyle Swan during the Canberra rally.
It comes as the federal government faces increasing pressure to reveal more details ahead of a referendum later this year.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously dismissed criticism from the opposition that the voice lacked detail, pointing to a document with more than 200 pages and which had undergone five years of consultation.
'We don't really want anything to do with the Voice'
![Gomeroi and Wiradjuri man Murriguel Coe, a caretaker at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Picture by Elesa Kurtz Gomeroi and Wiradjuri man Murriguel Coe, a caretaker at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Picture by Elesa Kurtz](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/106459643/28854282-a34b-4a95-9abf-cca7371cd174.jpg/r0_351_4154_2686_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But embassy caretaker, Gomeroi and Wiradjuri man, Murriguel Coe said many First Nations groups didn't feel like it had been a transparent process, adding they also hadn't been consulted.
In 2017, 250 First Nations representatives attended a convention in Uluru to discuss ways to improve the rights and conditions for Aboriginal people, culminating in the creation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
The statement calls for changes to the constitution to recognise the sovereignty of First Nations people, leading to the creation of an Indigenous advisory body to federal parliament - known as the Voice to Parliament - and a commission to oversee a treaty-making process.
READ MORE:
- Explainer: What is an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and the Uluru Statement from the Heart?
- Voice to Parliament debate likely to increase psychological distress among Indigenous peoples
- Aboriginal Tent Embassy calls on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for consultation on Uluru Statement from the Heart
Mr Coe, a son of one of the tent embassy's founders, said a number of embassy representatives hadn't agreed with the statement, and had walked out on discussions in protest.
"If Albanese maybe went out, and didn't just go to Uluru, but actually went out to other people's countries and ... spoke to the grassroots people, that might have been a different story," he told The Canberra Times.
"But we don't really want anything to do with the Voice.
"We want sovereignty, we want self-determination through sovereignty. And that's also part of breaking away from the Crown."
![Gomeroi and Wiradjuri man Murriguel Coe, a caretaker at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Picture by Elesa Kurtz Gomeroi and Wiradjuri man Murriguel Coe, a caretaker at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Picture by Elesa Kurtz](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/106459643/3b8b66d4-d285-475e-ac30-37460d7436d1.jpg/r0_0_4230_2387_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Speeches held during the planned protest and march from Garema Place to Kings Terrace on Thursday will share the tent embassy's views against a Voice to Parliament, with Mr Coe describing it as the rally's main message this year.
The embassy's statement, seen by The Canberra Times, says the Uluru statement is a "deliberate trap of wording" and describes the involvement of a circle of "Aboriginal elites" as being behind the push.
Tent embassy 'still at war' over sovereignty
Canberra's event falls in line with others organised in the major cities and around the country, where campaigning against the upcoming Voice to Parliament referendum has become the main ticket.
Event posters describe the January 26 event as "Sovereignty Day" and list demands, including stop the war, land rights, sovereignty never ceded, land back and reparatory justice.
Canberra's poster also features a design from the tent embassy's original flag, which Mr Coe said felt was more representative to him than the official Aboriginal flag.
![Canberra's Sovereignty Day poster. Picture supplied Canberra's Sovereignty Day poster. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/106459643/f9e57fcc-9b59-4eeb-901b-e2113cb8c692.png/r0_0_1980_1113_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Mr Coe said the event's name change in Canberra to Sovereignty Day is intentional too.
He said it's about taking the next step forward toward the embassy's aim of achieving sovereignty - one decades in the making.
"We've been here for 50 years and we're still waiting for our sovereignty," Mr Coe said.
"We are still at war with the government. We are still at war with the crown."
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