By Sam King (Melbourne), Patrick Newbold (Sydney), Ana Cavalcante (Brisbane) and Barry Healy (Perth)

Sydney

At least ten thousand people attended Sydney’s Invasion Day rally organised by Blak Caucus and held in Hyde Park. During the march, chants echoed through the streets including “Migrants are welcome, racists are not”, “Too many coppers, not enough justice”, “No justice, no peace, no racist police”, and “Always was, always will be, Aboriginal Land.

Warlpiri elder, Uncle Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves addressed the ongoing deaths in custody, reflecting on the death of his grandson, Kumanjayi White who was “strangled for one Coca-Cola”. Jordan Ryan-Hennessy related ongoing deaths in custody to the interests of the ruling classes, and the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Ryan-Hennessy called for the cooperation between all oppressed groups in order to resist colonisation and genocide across the world. Speakers also celebrated the weakening of the Liberal-National Coalition, while the rise of One Nation was identified as another challenge for the Left.

Brisbane

In Brisbane 2000 people battled a heatwave and, initially, some counter protesters who disturbed the beginning of the action – but they soon moved along. The police contingent was four times larger than previous years and spread widely across the city centre.
Varied speeches were focused mostly on land rights, denouncing both major parties and the One Nation party for their ongoing colonial projects. Many speakers made reference to the ICE actions in Minneapolis and the mass people’s resistance to it. Palestine, Venezuela and Cuba were also frequently touched upon by speakers. Red Spark attended as part of the well organized and motivated Hands Off Venezuela (HOV) contingent.

Perth

Invasion Day in Perth was propelled into a very spirited and militant march by the untimely intervention of the WA Police, who shut down the speakers platform an hour before the scheduled finishing time, citing a bomb threat.

The event was convened in Forrest Place in Perth’s CBD and chaired by well-known Aboriginal leader, Herbert Bropho. Several powerful speeches were delivered before the police moved in.

First a tight line of police started moving people back from in front of the speakers’ platform and then police appeared among the speakers. There was general confusion with a lot of people interrogating the police who were ordering them to move.

Perth Now, a Murdoch publication, reported that police had seen an object thrown into the crowd, which they suspected was a bomb. A later report on the ABC News website says it was a plastic bag containing “ball bearings” and “screws” that were “wrapped around an unknown liquid in a glass container”.

The significant result of the police action was to charge up the feeling among the crowd. Chanting became louder and concentrated on “No Justice, No Peace! No Racist Police!” and similar chants.

The police gave confusing instructions about which direction the demonstration was allowed to move. This had the unintended consequence that it marched along St Georges Terrace, the business centre of Perth.

Protesters delighted in occupying the entire street and stopping to hear speeches and singing. After a long period of time the festival-of-freedom crowd marched into Supreme Court Gardens, past the statue of arch-racist, Alexander Forrest that stands at the entrance. More speeches and free discussion continued in the gardens.

Melbourne

A huge action of tens of thousands gathered at state Parliament. Earlier at 5am, 1,500 people also mobilised at Camp Sovereignty – a permanently Indigenous occupied and controlled location on the CBD fringe. Official Demands of Parliament house action – which was around 20 or 30 times bigger than a far-right counter rally in the CBD – included “Land back, truth telling, treaty, decolonisation and justice”.

Uncle Gary Foley (a professor of history) addressed the huge crowd from Parliament steps in his characteristic popular historical agitation style. He explained Aboriginal people had already started to get “fully organised” and were able to meet the very first official Australia Day event with organised protest 88 years ago, led by William Cooper. Fifty years later – in 1988 – Australia’s official bicentenary “celebrations” were the catalyst for what Foley said was the largest gathering of Aboriginal people ever. Communities across the nation mobilised in Sydney to protest. 

Celeste Liddle delivered a statement from Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance (WAR), the Parliament protest organisers. The statement’s full text had not been published at the time of writing however the wide ranging and thoughtful statement touched on many crucial issues.

Liddle outlined that WAR demands treaty, while the “nation state of Australia still wants to celebrate”, the invasion. However, she argued that today there is no unifying vision from either a white or Black perceptive.

WAR has “no interest” in changing the date (again), pointing out that has happened before and that January 26 was only re-emphasised in 1994. This was described as merely “moving the goalposts”. Rather January 26 should be an official day of mourning.

The unfolding climate disaster was strongly emphasised (as bushfire smoke wafted across the city). WAR denounced “fossil fuel profiteers” arguing that environmental devastation can be reversed “only when Indigenous voices are listened to”. Multinational corporate profiteering was also denounced. The statement also strongly took issue with “global occupations” naming many areas of imperialist aggression including Palestine, Venezuela.

Liddle argued that the 617 Aboriginal deaths in custody since the 1988 Royal Commission is one piece evidence that “the boot of colonialism” is yet to be “removed from our necks”. WAR also denounced the dehumanisation of Aboriginal women who are victims of domestic violence – highlighting the high rate of imprisonment of Indigenous women who report violence against them.

The statement argued the rate child separation now exceeds that of the stolen generation –including the imprisonment of children as young as 10 years old.

A broad spectrum of speakers besides the official statement came together on the Parliament steps. 

Robbie Thorpe, an important elder and political figure in the radical Aboriginal rights movement in Victoria, told the crowd he is “not happy” with the Victorian Treaty, characterising it as the state government doing a deal with its own employees and funded bodies. Thorpe said there is “no rights” enshrined in the Treaty. He described his response to the Treaty process as “confused”, asking, “does that mean we’ve made peace?” Has there been a “settlement”?

Thorpe argued that any effective treaty needs to be with a higher body than the state of Victoria. In a separate point he called for the removal of the Union Jack from the Australian national flag saying that would leave only the “beautiful” Southern Cross, that we can see every night. “We can live under the Southern Cross”, not in “Australia” but an “Independent Treaty Republic”.

Thorpe’s speech was followed by several speeches, including by First Nations Assembly seat holders who expressed political perspectives and approaches essentially counterposed to Thorpe. These speeches often emphasised the coming Victorian state elections in November this year, arguing for the need to oppose a possible return of the Liberal-National coalition to government in Victoria. One speaker who was a First Nations Assembly member argued the Indigenous movement needs to remain “within the tent” (presumably the tent of the political establishment) in order to deliver the gains demanded by past generations and struggles. 

Various initiatives were promoted including the Walk For Truth campaign, the open letter to the Prime Minister and the National Treaty Summit in late February.  Most speakers emphasised opposing both Black deaths in custody and child separation.

A rally organiser Tarneen Onus Brown pointed out the indignity that many elders can’t die on country because aged care centres do not exist in many areas. Onus Brown has been a leader of the recent legal campaign challenging Victoria Police’s latest new powers. On January 23 this campaign had a victory when the Federal court ruled Victoria Police could not declare the entire CBD a “designated area” for six months. The Federal court ruling came on the back of another minor victory when, in 2021, the Victorian Government removed public drunkenness from the criminal code – a law long used to target Aboriginal people. The change came after a significant campaign following the high profile death of Tanya Day who was arrested while asleep on an inter-city train service, charged under the public drunkenness laws and left to die in a prison cell.

The struggle for justice continues.