It’s weird whenever I’m doing a talk or training and point out that Australia isn’t actually a legitimate nation so much as it is ppl who turned up with guns and never left. And then ppl ask me what I want them to do about it and I’m like “Hey, you’re the ones with all the guns!”

Like imagine pointing out to a bank robber that they’re robbing the bank and then they’re all like “So, what do you want? Do you want us just to leave and NOT steal all the stuff?” but they’ve still got a gun on you so you’re like “Wait, is this... is that a trick question?”

Like, imagine your workplace wants to get a Welcome to Country for your NAIDOC morning tea, and in the middle of it the local Elder is like “Actually, you know what, here’s your $100 back, I change my mind - you’re not welcome and I’d like to leave” and then they just sit down...

Now, who do you think is gonna leave first? You? Your workplace? Or is security/police gonna come and escort Auntie out the building?

See, that’s the power that comes from having all the guns... You can force other people off their own lands even though they asked you to leave.

The only power we have is solidarity, a long memory, an unwillingness to assimilate or to outright disappear, and a refusal to let Australia pretend that it doesn’t have all the guns and that everything is fine... it’s not fucking fine.

And until we get a Treaty, and a really generous one at that, Australia will lack both the moral and legal legitimacy required to call itself anything other than an illegal forced occupation, which is what it currently is.

A Happy NAIDOC Week to all and to all a good night