Flinders Island councillor in push to stop Welcome to and Acknowledgement of Country protocols

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6 days ago

A local councillor from Tasmania's Flinders Island wants to stop Welcomes to and Acknowledgements of Country at events the council is involved in — a move the Mayor says would cause division.
Flinders Councillor Garry Blenkhorn said "Australians did not want separatist development" and that discontent with the Acknowledgement of Country was growing.
"These protocols are not historical and have only existed for around 50 years."
Flinders Council has included the Acknowledgement of Country in publications and events since 2019.
Since 2013, the council — which covers the Furneaux Group of islands, including Flinders Island, off Tasmania's north-east coast — has also held an alternative celebration to Australia Day, which it describes as an "inclusive celebration of being Furneaux Islanders".
In the lead up to the federal election, the merit of the welcomes to and acknowledgements of country was questioned by then-Opposition leader Peter Dutton and Senator Nampijinpa Price.
Reconciliation Australia, the peak body for reconciliation with Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, said they were "simple but profound ceremonies which allow Australians to express respect for traditional owners of the Country on which the ceremony occurs".
"Long before the colonisation of Australia, under traditional protocols, when one group entered the land of another Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander nation, they would ask permission. The hosting group would welcome the visitors and offer them 'safe passage and protection of their spiritual being during the journey'," it said.
The organisation rejected the suggestion that welcomes and acknowledgements were divisive.
"In fact, reconciliation provides a strong foundation for a more unified society," a spokesperson said.
Reconciliation Australia said they should be performed when organisers of meetings or events deemed it appropriate.
"The regular positive response of [for example] sporting crowds to Welcomes to Country ceremonies indicates that many Australians welcome these ceremonies."
It said in the lead-up to National Reconciliation Week, it was important to understand what the ceremonies represented.
The Flinders Island community has the second-highest proportion of Aboriginal people in Tasmania.
It is also the location of the old Wybalenna Mission, where Aboriginal people were exiled to in the 1880s, and where many died as a result of European disease and poor conditions.
Flinders Island Mayor Rachel Summers said Cr Blenkhorn's proposal would cause division over what was "essentially a very brief" part of council events.
"It's literally 30 seconds, 60 seconds, when we just acknowledge the contribution the Aboriginal community has made over their time as custodians of the land," Cr Summers said.
She said she was disappointed Cr Blenkhorn had not raised the issue before submitting a notice of motion for Wednesday's council meeting.
"Things like this which have real community impact should come to a [council] workshop in the first instance, and then we could have had that discussion.
"And if he was saying that he wanted to put this motion forward, then we could have maybe done some community engagement," Cr Summers said.
She said Aboriginal associations and the services they provided were "critical" to the whole community.
In response to Cr Blenkhorn's motion, the council's general manager, Warren Groves, said the motion "could well be seen as difficult to reconcile" if supported and contrary to efforts the council has made to improve its relationship with the Aboriginal community and stakeholders.
Mr Groves said he had recently spoken with the chief executives of the Flinders Island and Cape Barren Island Aboriginal associations and the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania.
He said "all three CEOs are strongly opposed to any proposed withdrawal of the Welcome to or Acknowledgement of Country from council proceedings".
Cape Barron Island Aboriginal Association chair Aaron Maynard said the council told him about Cr Blenkhorn's motion.
"Words can't really explain how disgusting and just how disrespectful this is to everyone," Mr Maynard said.
"Our people on this land in Australia are the oldest living race in the world at 65,000 years old, and we're still not celebrating that to our full capacity."
He said he would be attending the council meeting.
Speaking on ABC Local Radio on Sunday morning, Tasmanian Aboriginal activist and lawyer Michael Mansell said the idea was "disappointing".
"So, again, it's people who just have a very different view, and we need to tolerate that, but why they would try to destroy something that's very positive, and that people do want to participate in, is very hard to understand," he said.
The motion will be debated on Wednesday.
Cr Blenkhorn was contacted for comment.