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Noel Pearson taken to task over criticism of Elders by Jack Wilkie-Jans 25 November 2015
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elivering the Marist Youth Care Oration* in Brisbane Monday night, Aboriginal activist Noel Pearson took the opportunity to attack Cape York Elders and Traditional Owners (TOs). The group fired upon by Mr Pearson (pictured), the Cape York Alliance, is made up of Traditional Owners, lead by a group of Elders, standing up for Cape York’s autonomy and also standing up against the ‘One Claim’ over Cape York. Spearheaded by the Cape York Land Council (CYLC) the One Claim seeks Native Title determination of 14.6 million hectares of unclaimed land in Cape York Peninsula in favour of the CYLC. The claim and the subsequent Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) negotiation process between the CYLC and the Queensland Government has previously come under fire for its secrecy and seeming favouritism in the granting of road-work contracts. A negotiation process which has so far excluded those Elders and TOs Mr Pearson has attacked for opposing the claim. While historic in it’s size, Cape York Traditional Owner, Jack Wilkie-Jans, says that the One Claim is culturally void and that this is the chief reason for opposition against it. “Pearson and the CYLC chair, Richie Ah Mat, are claiming this historic, blanket claim to be in the best interests of Aboriginal people in the Cape. What this claim actually does is ignores the uniqueness of each individual Aboriginal tribal group, their
Noel Pearson comes under fire for attack on Cape York Elders during the Marist Youth Care Oration on Monday night. Image: Alex Ellinghausen
respective cultures, histories and needs. The One Claim seeks to bundle all this together and instead of individual autonomy, as is provided under [yes] the more lengthy, yet diligent process of individual claims, the CYLC will have the final say, legally, over the traditional lands of the peoples of Cape York. I and a vast number of TOs in the Cape don’t believe one organisation should have this kind of control. Furthermore, I cannot understand how the CYLC think nine claimants, not all of whom even represent parts of country under the claim, can claim other people’s land and call it culturally significant. The fact of the matter is that this is not about preserving cultural and traditional connection to country as the Native Title Act is supposed to be about, it’s a land grab and more worryingly, a resource grab. When you have the CYLC sending letters to TOs across the Cape requesting they sign their pre-determined land or pending claim over to the control of the CYLC then you have to wonder about the altruism (or lack thereof) of the One Claim”, Mr Wilkie-Jans
said. Mr Pearson also took aim at Cape York’s peak-body organisation for social and economic development, Cape York Sustainable Futures Inc., by calling it a “white organisation” leading “black trackers/police” against their fellow TOs. In his speech Mr Pearson also asked the question “how could you have black fellas opposing Native Title for black fellas, for their own people?” “Firstly I think Noel is all sourgrapes, if he bothered to come to Cape York and sit down with the wide cross-section of Traditional Owners who have been shut out of his initiatives and the CYLC’s Native Title process, he would see that the Elders and Traditional Owners he speaks of are not opposing Native Title for black fellas, but opposing Native Title which has and will continue to provide great financial gain solely to the companies under Pearson’s influence, the Cape York Group”, Mr Wilkie-Jans said, “As for his desperate claims that CYSF is a “white organisation” I can tell you that’s a convenient lie.
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I am the Deputy Chair of CYSF and a Traditional Owner from Mapoon on the Western Cape (and country in the Gulf of Carpentaria). CYSF has had Aboriginal chairs in the past and the board has always been comprised of TOs from the Cape as well as people from other cultural backgrounds. I find Pearson’s linking of the TOs who work with, and visa versa, CYSF and branding them as “black trackers” and “bunch of black fellas” to be lateral violence at it’s best/worst, to be hypocritical of his own analogy of ‘crabs in a bucket’ and to be nothing more than the ravings of a man who’s relevance nationally and at home in the Cape is being legitimately questioned. “In his speech Monday night, the hypocrisy of Noel Pearson’s “self determination” mantra is staggering- not to mention his “reverse” racism against white peoples of Cape York working alongside the marginalised majority of Traditional Owners. The moment Aboriginal peoples of Cape York take a stand and take responsibility for their Traditional property rights or economic participation which is outside of the vested interests of Noel, he takes pot-shots at them, as opposed to congratulating their initiative. I think it’s clear Noel’s idea of “self determination” is in fact pre-determination”, Mr WilkieJans said. Mr Pearson in his speech also accused the group of Elders and Traditional Owners who are engaging independent of the CYLC in the One Claim process of being against Aboriginal economic advancement. The Cape York Alliance (which is holding deputations in Canberra with
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Elders who attended a recent forum in Laura were criticised by Noel Pearson in his Marist Youth Care Oration. Image: Cape York Alliance
various Ministers and their offices this week) has unveiled a chart (*see attached*) detailing the shareholding and governance structures of government funded organisations under the Cape York Group. “Unsurprisingly there are a lot of the same names on these very short lists of share-holders, directors and, essentially, profit makers. These are publicly funded organisations, promoted by Pearson, and are supposedly about economic advancement of Aboriginal peoples in the Cape. I simply ask why then are the same few buddies the only people profiting off the work these companies do and why the ownership, governance and shareholding capacities aren’t extended
across the board to the Aboriginal peoples they are supposed to be working for in securing an economic future? The Cape York Alliance has no vested business interests in the Cape, it is about opening the process around ILUA negotiations between the CYLC and the governments, under the One Claim for example, and seeking greater transparency and openness regarding economic decision making and opportunities in the Cape,” Mr Wilkie-Jans said. *Noel Pearson’s Marist Youth Care Oration (23/11/15): http://mpegmedia.abc.net. au/rn/podcast/2015/11/ bst_20151124_0825.mp3