(17of20)WALKOUT REASONS: Ghillar, Michael Anderson, feedback Referendum Council, Uluru
Channel: Sovereign Union
Date: 01/06/2017

Having been permitted to sit as an observer in the main National Convention of the Referendum Council at Yulara near Uluru, I was privy to observe the proceedings and I sat through the 'Synthesis' of the Regional Dialogues and what they called the breakout workshops as well, where the key topics were 'The Voice', 'Treaty', 'Strategy'.

In respect of the Synthesis (summary) of the Dialogues it was very clear that nationally the specially selected people by the Land Councils (invitation-only delegates) independently concluded  that is must be made clear that First Nations sovereignty was never ceded.

The next key point was the fact the people, from around this island continent, who attended these Regional Dialogues, were emphatic that they did not want a minimalist approach to constitutional reform and they did not want it to be symbolic. They wanted something substantive that would effect real and positive change. It was very clear that they did not just want to remove Section 51(26) the Race Power, because they did not want anything in the constitution that could be used in a manner that would be detrimental to First Nations Peoples exercising their rights and their right to be self-determining.

More importantly, the presentation in the Synthesis/Summary does suggest that an overwhelming majority of people, who attended these Regional Dialogues, were determined that, because sovereignty was never ceded, that Treaties should be made with Sovereign First Nations throughout the continent and they determined that our ancient tapestry of languages and cultures cannot be destroyed and lost forever to our future generations. ...

The National Convention was confused from the outset. The Victorian delegation was alarmed that prior to their arrival at Uluru, the 10 Regional Dialogue elected delegates were being accompanied by other 'delegates' chosen by some means without their knowledge. In fact it was suggested that they were in excess of 10 or more people invited as 'delegates', without any participation in the Victorian Regional Dialogues themselves.

During the Regional Dialogues the elected delegates were absolutely furious when they learned that the paid facilitators at all of the Regional Dialogue meetings were granted ‘delegate’ status by the Referendum Council for the National Convention. This became apparent after the Regional Dialogues had been concluded, and not during the proceedings of the Regional Dialogues themselves. Consequently, these same paid facilitators and staffers controlled all discussions during the breakout workshops at the National Convention. 

Another significant point that created anxt, because of confusion, was the fact that the New South Wales delegates, elected at the Dubbo and Sydney Dialogues, were completely misled as to how the proceedings were to be conducted, that is, of the five points raised during the Regional Dialogues, they were of the understanding that they each had been given a mandate from their Regional Dialogue to go and speak to that mandate on those five points, for and on behalf of their people.  

This was not the case and the delegates felt dejected, insulted and tricked, because there was only one agenda, constitutional inclusion. Instead new agenda items were set in place, which appeared to avoid the conclusions of the Regional Dialogues. 

In a breakout workshop Lyall Munro walked out in disgust because the facilitator, Josie Crawshaw, ignored him and did not give him speaking rights and Lyall in frustration walked out of the workshop and Josie Crawshaw said words to the effect ‘good riddance’. To the credit of the majority in the workshop the facilitator was chastised by the group and then John Christopherson took the microphone from her. Pat Anderson and Megan Davis later apologised to Lyall Munro for the facilitator’s rude and unprofessional behaviour. 

Later in a plenary session the elected delegates were totally frustrated at not being afforded the right to discuss in whole matters they were mandated with and the stifling of those voices by the organisers resulted in the walkout of more than 30 delegates and observers. This walkout could have been avoided had here been provisions for open discussion in the plenary sessions on the issues discussed at he Regional Dialogues. The delegates could not follow what was happening, because the facilitators did not know nor understand the finer points of detail in respect to the topics that were being canvassed and how those topics fitted within the mandate of those formally elected to be delegates.  
Ghillar, Michael Anderson

http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/perfecting-trickery-referendum-council

http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/wrong-legal-advice-professors-referendum-and-sovereignty

http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/murrawarri-nations’-analysis-uluru-statement-heart-uluru-statement