Jason Goroncy

'Why should the people whose #land has been stolen have to prove our land was stolen? Why does the crown own land on this continent when the #Mabo decision technically overturned the doctrine of #TerraNullius and the existence of crown land on this continent? This is the heart of the matter – the proof that the legal system of colonial lands is not an equal one, is not ready to decolonise, to reconcile, for Treaty'.

– @clairegcoleman, https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2023/01/21/the-crown-owns-no-land

#Australia

The crown owns no land

It’s that special time of the year again, when people talk about reconciliation, treaty, land rights, invasion, colonisation and Australia. The time of the year when racists fume and rant, when anti-racists and post-colonialists tell us they care and want us to be happy; the time of year when many Aboriginal people face the choice: fight or hide. January can be toxic, mostly because it’s the lead-up to the worst of Australian holidays, “Australia Day”.

The Saturday Paper
Jan 20, 2023 at 10:18pmWeb
Show threadJason GoroncyJan 20, 2023

'There is no crown land on this continent. That’s perhaps the most important statement for land rights and conciliation (I won’t say “reconciliation” because that implies a return to a relationship that was once conciliatory, which is something white and Blak Australia never had). It’s all legally and spiritually Aboriginal land. Always was, always will be'.

– @clairegcoleman

Show threadJason GoroncyJan 20, 2023
'The Mabo decision determined that the crown did not legally occupy any land in the colony of Australia in 1788. All land holdings present in 1787, which is all land on the continent, continue to this day unless the title has been extinguished by allocation between 1788 and the Mabo decision. Post-Mabo, the crown owns no land in Australia. Crown land should not exist; the Mabo decision gives traditional owners the right to claim crown land once they have asserted their land rights'.
Show threadJason GoroncyJan 20, 2023
'Want to prove you give a shit? Want to prove reconciliation is possible? Return all vacant crown land to the traditional owners of that land, return what you have stolen but have not used'. – @clairegcoleman
Show threadJason GoroncyJan 20, 2023

'All traditional owners have the right to claim unclaimed crown land post-Mabo, but when we ask for our land back, particularly when that land contains mineral resources or is in the temperate south of the continent or near a capital city, the government, no matter what party is in control, fights us.

This fighting can end'.

– @clairegcoleman