SYDNEY – The NSW Aboriginal Land Council has confirmed that an overwhelming majority of its 30,000 members attended last week’s rally against the Crown Lands Bill, despite footage showing a crowd best described as “hundreds” and Macquarie Street itself measuring approximately one kilometre end-to-end.
“They were there in spirit” a NSWALC media advisor told Gammon News. “And in correspondence. And via the reimbursement form.”
The 92 per cent figure cited in NSWALC’s media release refers to letters sent to the Minister and the Premier by Local Aboriginal Land Council leadership opposing the Bill. The figure does not refer to a member ballot. It does not refer to a structured consultation across the 121 LALCs. It does not refer to any process where individual members were asked anything in particular.
The Bill itself may well be garbage. Multiple LALC CEOs have raised legitimate legal concerns. The Law Society of NSW has flagged serious issues. None of this is in dispute.
What is in dispute is whether 30,000 First Nations people in NSW physically attended the rally, signed the letters, or were told the letters existed before they appeared on letterhead with their LALC’s name on them.
“We represent tens of thousands of Aboriginal people speaking with one voice” the Chair told media on 5 May. The voice was singular. The audit trail was not provided.
A spokesperson for the Network That Was Asked clarified the position: “We were CC’d.”
The box got ticked. The letter got sent. The 30,000 mob still don’t know.
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