#terranullius — Public Fediverse posts

"It will be a dull march back into history, a return to the denialism and silence that has defined white Australia. Honesty will be torn from the trees. Any notion of shared understanding will be shredded."

"For all the misinformation and deceit, all the lies of the campaign, we will be left with one ugly truth: given the chance, Australia would still sooner destroy Indigenous people than listen to them as equals. The central impulses of colonisation are all still there, brutal and unrepentant."
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https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/editorial/2023/10/14/mothball-politics#mtr
#Australia #culture #denial #dispossession #FirstNationsPeoples #indigenousPeoples #recognition #constitution #democracy #VoicetoParliament #SettlerSociety #TerraNullius #21stCentury

Rejecting the voice shows Australia is still in denial, its history of forgetting a festering wrong

"Australia has overwhelmingly voted not to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution, and the nation has changed forever."

"The referendum became by proxy a vote on Indigenous peoples’ right to exist in our own land. Imagine – just try – how that feels today...Why are all these people deciding whether we belong or not?"
"White Australia doesn’t want to give blackfellas anything, even when it’s nothing." Melissa Lukashenko

"Australia urgently needs a national anti-racism framework and bipartisan response to racism, Race commissioner Chin Tan."

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2023/oct/14/rejecting-the-voice-shows-australia-is-still-in-denial-its-history-of-forgetting-a-festering-wrong
#denial #Australia #Voice #referendum #FirstNationsPeoples #TerraNullius #21stCentury #referendum #FesteringSore #SettlerSociety

Bellingen core koala habitat and denial 1/2

Australia's foundation rests on the erroneous act of 'terra nullius'. The British declared the continent ‘vacant’, ‘without settled inhabitants or settled law’. The denial of the existence of the Indigenous peoples and their cultures has detrimental consequences right into the 21 century.

Similarly, all that is impeding on settlers' livestock or crop interests is declared a pest and usually leads to the eradication of Australian endemic flora and fauna.

Land use for extractive purposes, such as monoculture plantations, often has remnants of native vegetation and with time endemic wildlife populate these habitats. The Australian government, having signed various international commitments to biodiversity and climate transition, is under pressure to conform to these environmental agreements.

Endangered or threatened species could pose an 'obstacle' to traditional 'business as usual' such as logging, deforestation and clear felling operations. Then it is best to not acknowledge the existence of these animals and plants.

This could take the form of maps (Koala habitat maps seem to not cover State forests in NSW ) and a database glitch could possibly erase data collected by citizen scientists. Or the State Forest corporation could just be a priori exempt from having to address biodiversity flora and fauna. Managed data sparsity also could lead one to a conclusion that 'nothing lives there.' Koalas in this case are non-existent. In an obstacle free plantation, clear felling can take place with a good conscience. Should a glider or koala stray into the native forest it might just become 'collateral damage' in the normal 'harvesting' operations.

>Bellingen core koala habitat and denial 2/2
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/111118750606893004

#TerraNullius #koalas #StateForests #ForestryCorporation #NSWLogging #ClearFelling #BellingenLogging #SaveTuckersNob #denial #biodiversity #extinction #BiodiversityEmergency #ClimateEmergency #biodiversity