Aboriginal Tent Embassy seeks “declaration of sovereignty” over Australia

ABORIGINAL Tent Embassy organisers on Friday said they would seek the approval of Aboriginal communities throughout the country to sign a “declaration of sovereignty” over Australia.

“Either you respect us as a sovereign people or piss off out of our country,” indigenous activist Paul Coe told reporters.

A group of Tent Embassy supporters had earlier been involved in the protest that lead to the dramatic scenes of the Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott being bundled away by security.

Later, another group of about 200 marched on Parliament House and set fire to an Australian flag while chanting “always was, always will be Aboriginal land”.

But Indigenous community leaders Warren Mundine and Mick Gooda on Friday lined up to condemn the January 26 protest, saying the aggression and disrespect shown to Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott was appalling.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mr Gooda said the protest was “aggressive, divisive and frightening”.

Both community leaders questioned the current relevance of the tent embassy, with Mr Mundine saying it had been hijacked by a “very motley crew” intent on tagging their concerns to Aboriginal reconciliation.

Tent embassy organisers were unmoved, calling Mr Mundine and Mr Gooda “handpicked puppets” who did not represent grassroots Aboriginal people.

“We’re over it, so get over it and move on,” Michael Anderson, the last surviving member of the original four that established the tent embassy in 1972, said on Friday.

Ms Gillard said she didn’t believe the events on Thursday would hamper progress toward the recognition of Indigenous Australians in the constitution.

“We are a country on a journey to genuine reconciliation,” she said.

Late on Friday, Ms Gillard’s blue suede wedge-heel right foot shoe, which she lost in the Australia Day melee, was handed over to a security guard at Parliament House and sent on to her office.

Image: Aboriginal Tent Embassy protesters on Australia Day, 26 January 2012