Hundreds of protesters marched to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on Australia Day, demanding the date be changed and a treaty and truth-telling be prioritised over a Voice to Parliament.
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The Tent Embassy and rally organisers called it a "Sovereignty Day" protest, opposing the Voice to Parliament referendum and calling for Indigenous sovereignty. Police estimate the march was attended by up to 700 people.
Ngambri woman Leah House led the march from Garema Place down Commonwealth Bridge to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in front of Old Parliament House.
"We always have been a sovereign people and if this colony recognised our sovereignty and respected our sovereignty, then why would we accept a political role in this country as an advisory body?" she asked.
"That's inconsistent with our sovereignty, for us to accept the role as an advisory body, not decision makers. Those are crumbs, what's on the table being offered to us right now."
Ms House called the Voice to Parliament "uncompelling", "vague" and "a distraction from what our ancestors have been fighting for, what our elders have been fighting for".
"This product that's being sold to us is so deceptive. What's been pitched to us is the impression that it's not going to have power to have a say over Parliament.
"If the federal government wanted an advisory body, they could set that up tomorrow. They don't need a referendum to set up an advisory body."
Jason Kelly, a Mutthi Mutthi and Wanba Wanba man, came from Victoria to support Canberra's Sovereignty Day march and said he feels trauma on January 26.
"No one celebrates the Holocaust. So today is like dancing on the graves of our ancestors, dancing on the graves of our people," he said.
"If we really want to have united Australia, we want to bring the eagle and the crow together, let's just do a simple thing by changing the date. It's only been a national public holiday since 1994."
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Mr Kelly also said he did not support the Voice to Parliament referendum, and there needs to be "greater emphasis on truth-telling".
"The government laid all these bureaucratic processes on us, bureaucratic processes always make sure that management always keeps control and control is contrary to self-determination," he said.
"The term reconciliation, that's just another gun held to our head, all these good faith measure that we're doing. So we need transformation, we need to aim higher."
Father and daughter Scott and Tyahn Bell also marched to the Tent Embassy, and said the Voice to Parliament needs to be "less tokenistic" and "it's only to tick a box in [the government's] agenda" and feels like "a puppet game".
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