More Division – An Indigenous Party!

There’s a new party in town – not that kind of party, that’s too European-looking – a new political party in the ACT, the First Nation Party. Just what we need to bring all Australians together as one. The person shown onscreen is the founder and leader of the new party, Paul Girrawah House. He is a Bandalang Fellow at the Australian National University. According to his bio, “Paul celebrates his cultural ancestry through traditional tree carving. Recently Paul’s practice has extended beyond the traditional use of trees, and has seen Paul carving his ancestral designs into his detractors’ letterboxes and foreheads.” Obviously, I’m joking people! Of course, he doesn’t do that! The real text states that Paul has been “carving his ancestral designs into glass, and other contemporary materials. Paul, as you’ll be going into politics, I hope you can take a joke.

Here’s Mr House opening up one of the trees, here he is carving one of his designs, and here’s one of his finished products. Look, I can appreciate the artistic merit of this. It seems to be quite nice. I’m certainly not here to mock anybody’s artwork. But does all this translate to politics? It is appropriate to have an Indigenous-only party? A couple of points I’d like to make: First, obviously, there’s a wide range of views in the Aboriginal community. Can all Aboriginal people seriously subscribe to essentially, a single-issue party? Secondly, it goes without saying, if we had an Asian-only Party, or an African-only Party, or heaven forbid, a party for people of European descent, there would be riots, would there not? At the very least, there would be cries of “Racism!” and “White supremacy!”. So how’s an Indigenous-only party any different? Look, I appreciate Mr House wants to help Indigenous people, but is this the right way to do it?

Anyway, according to the ACT Electoral Commission, the First Nation Party has been official registered for this year’s Legislative Assembly election, and is eligible to nominate candidates. Along with the newly added First Nation Party, there are now sixteen parties registered to contest the October 2024 election.

Regarding his new party, Mr House recently told NITV, “This is the first time that a party representing Indigenous people has been registered to contest ACT Legislative Assembly elections. Whilst there have been trailblazing Indigenous politicians elected to Federal, State and Territory governments in the past, none have belonged to an Indigenous party. The voices of First Nation’s people have been neglected for too long in the ACT. I will lead the new party in presenting a strong and inclusive agenda for Canberrans. For the first time, all Canberrans will have an opportunity to vote for First Nation candidates in the local Assembly.”

As many of you may be aware, in last year’s Indigenous Voice referendum, the ACT was the only state or territory to vote majority Yes, so perhaps there’s a real chance for Mr House’s new party to win some seats. Look, I wish Mr House well. He certainly has more courage than I do in that he made his own political party. That takes some courage, right? But is this what we really want in Australia? Seats based on ethnicity? Is that going to bring Australians together, or further divide us?

MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn