Improving outcomes in First Nations communities

Phased expansion of community hubs to include co-located services and facilities, self-determined by each community, such as;

• Bushfood cultivation with permacultural native and edible gardens

• Monuments, forums and inscriptions honoring local and neighbouring cultures, heritage, lore and shared histories

• Repair cafes for electronics, clothing, musical instruments, cars and mechanical equipment

• Trades and materials exchanges facilitating community resilience with carpentry, bushcraft, recycling and circular economies

• Internet cafes facilitating multiplayer gaming, streaming, and table sports such as billiards and board games

• Kitchens, including mobile kitchens with video recording and streaming capabilities facilitating the development of local cuisines

• Courses for BMX, mountain bike, motorbike, off-road racing and watersports

• Courses for multi-day 4x4 adventures including fixed locations and routes for camping, glamping, outdoor education as well as local and international tourism

• Research and documentation of local geology, ecosystems, songlines, other sacred sites and other sites of historical significance, including a single publicly accessible digital map detailing the abovementioned locations detailing their significances to each culture. A government fleet of drones and/or aircraft with remote sensing capabilities (gravitometers, magnetometers, LIDAR, etc) could be a worthwhile investment to identify aforementioned sites, and if designed with modularity in mind, could be used for resource identification and defense purposes 

• Inter-cultural and inter-faith hubs, involving regular exchanges with common people from other First Nations and other communities in neighbouring regions, Australia and the world

• Nationwide assessment on the effects of mining on groundwater

• An end to the salami-shaving, bribery and fragmentation of communities by multinational corporations

• Research and development of new ore drilling technologies which are optimised for minimum noise, groundwater contamination, ecosystem disturbance as well as proactive and ongoing site remediation and other environmentally friendly technologies that remedy the damage caused by heavy, resource and extractive industries in Australia

• A right for community Elders and representatives to observe all board meetings of any heavy, resource and extractive industry companies operating on their lands, be informed about all commercial activity on their land, and protect against the destruction of their sacred sites and waters

• Progressive devolution of government power to First Nations communities for community self-determination, identification of existing and the development of new and localised governance systems, processes, precedents, principles, rules and codes of conduct as well as the identification for integration opportunities between communities and their systems

• Accession of Australia to the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) as well as the identification of any conflicts that may arise between the articles listed in UNDRIP and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as any and all other treaties and covenants, including the publicization of these identifications, differing interpretations and potential implications following implementation of those articles

• Development of a nationwide Human Rights Charter with the involvement of representatives from First Nations communities. This should specifically rule-out inhumane practices such as the Makarrata, as well as any and all other forms of physical punishment, violence, abuse and retributive justice (shifting the focus of the justice system to being restorative)

• Requirement for all private sector and law enforcement representatives to learn core concepts, basic words, lore and history of First Nations people who's lands they operate on, and the development of authorised officers in each community who understand the concept of shared sovereignty, and the significance of the unceded sovereignty of their communities and are committed to self-determination

• Implementation of all the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Indigenous Deaths in Custody

• Implementation of all the recommendations of the Bringing Them Home report

• Implementation of all the recommendations of the Closing the Gap report

• Inclusive determination of the levels and contents of treaties that First Nations communities wish to see with the Australian Government and/or the Crown of the Commonwealth

• Acknowledgement of the truth of the occurrence of genocide during the colonisation of Australia by the Crown of the Commonwealth, and the Prime Minister in the presence of all members of Parliament, followed by a request for forgiveness for the genocide of First Nations people, and an acceptance of collective responsibility for the historical injustices experienced as well as their effects. This consolidates the truth in our national consciousness paving a pathway to healing.  

• Commencement of a grassroots chain of mutual forgiveness starting in Australia and emanating throughout the world, leading to a declaration by First Nations Elders and their representatives (irrespective of the outcome of the referendum, or the legislation of the Voice) that the genocide is over (irrespective of whether any individual has chosen to forgive). We should ask each other for forgiveness, regardless of our heritage, but everyone is also entitled not to forgive.