AustLII Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback

Indigenous Law Bulletin

Indigenous Law Bulletin
You are here:  AustLII >> Databases >> Indigenous Law Bulletin >> 2002 >> [2002] IndigLawB 75

Database Search | Name Search | Recent Articles | Noteup | LawCite | Help

Nimmo, Julie --- "Treaty..." [2002] IndigLawB 75; (2002) 5(21) Indigenous Law Bulletin 17

Treaty...

by Julie Nimmo

Blank. That’s what springs to mind when I think treaty. It makes my mind empty. I lose logic, perspective and individuality. Treaty for me signifies a void that dangerously resembles a vacuum. It sucks out reason rather than adding any.

Specifically what disturbs me is the word ‘treaty’. I think it’s become toxic; infected with a virulent meaning intent on massive collateral damage. As soon as ‘treaty’ hits the air it polarises people. The public has a vague intellectual understanding of the word, but a much deeper, instinctive meaning of its effect; and it’s a bitch. Demanding, obtuse, complex and ethereal, treaty is a total mental meltdown. No wonder that people don’t get it. They run away from it. The word is a literary pox. It demands that we face Australia’s inequity, based purely on racism, and nut out a fair deal in return. But first try to define racism in this country, and then prove its existence to the public. It’s a tough call.

Perhaps our first hurdle is acknowledging the presence of xenophobia in contemporary society, because currently any notion of ‘love thy neighbour’ is as relevant as... the Bible. People love their own kind and the media is dominated with messages that reinforce a fear of the foreign, from sitcoms to the nightly news. People love their own, and at best tolerate others. It’s the language of survival and the rest can get to hell, because in reality that is the world we live in. Which politician, court or TV host cuts anyone any slack? Why bother giving the benefit of the doubt? Innocent till proven guilty? As if. Not in my world anyway.

As far as communications go there is a trajectory of information that is pushed, which looks like the industry consensus (although not in all cases), and its popular acceptance within the ranks and by the public is just the panacea that fear offers us in times of need. When in doubt, which is a lot of the time in these uncertain times, stick with the pack and follow the leader.

Uncertain indeed. I remember working as a journalist during the 10-point plan campaign, and the word ‘uncertain’ was everywhere. I’d heard on the hustings that a flash PR firm had cooked up the word and the political meaning, and it achieved great success. Anytime someone in a suit said ‘uncertain’, you knew they had to be talking about something Indigenous, and it wasn’t going to be good. The signifier was perfect in its precision.

Much in the same way, the treaty has been and will continue to be hijacked. In the future when it does have some newsworthy currency (current status near none) it will be very easy to push the trajectory into more uncertain territory. I actually have no faith that the issue will be examined objectively and in-depth, or independently of the prejudice that is imbedded in this nation. Politicians and power brokers on both sides of the cultural divide will spin rhetoric to meet their own needs, and caught in the crossfire will be the Australians looking for truth, integrity and decency to prevail.

Language is political and politics is about language. Until the debate is invigorated with deeper significance than rhetoric like ‘just because we should’ and ‘imagine what would happen if we did’, we will never have words in black and white that protect, sustain and encourage harmony and equality. Sadly, at this stage of our modern mental maturity, I can’t see the debate ever getting deeper than the seven seconds scare mentioned above.

All we can remember when things do get hot is that the treaty may not be the enemy in disguise, but it’s not the panacea either.

Julie Nimmo is a Wiradjuri woman and a freelance journalist. Last year Julie won the Indigenous category of the Walkley Award, the most prestigious award in Australian journalism.


AustLII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback
URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/2002/75.html