Voice activist Thomas Mayo has shared text message proof that “some Australians are horribly racist” in his new book, a handbook of sorts for how Australians of all backgrounds can confront racial injustice.
In It always was, it always will beThe controversial supporter of the “Yes” vote in last year’s failed referendum also gives frank answers to the “lies about indigenous peoples” that he often faces in society.
Last October, all Australian states voted No to the proposal to enshrine an Indigenous advisory committee in the Constitution, despite support from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
In the book, Mayo, a trade unionist, said he believed most No voters actually wanted Aboriginal children to have a better future, but acknowledged that the No campaign slogan, “if you don’t know, vote no”, was effective in influencing voters.
In response, Mayo said advocates must address myths about indigenous peoples head-on.
In the book, the activist offers detailed rebuttals to such claims, including that Aboriginal people “will have their backyard taken away from them”, “don’t want to work” and the inaccurate suggestion that taxpayers “spend $30 billion on indigenous people” each year.
Controversial ‘Yes’ referendum campaigner Thomas Mayo has revealed a message he says proves ‘some Australians are really racist’ in his new book, which also debunks Aboriginal myths.
The racist text claimed that while the late actor David Gulpilil (above) was a “real” Aboriginal, Mayo was simply a “by-product” of indigenous people and whites.
But one aspect of the book that stands out most is an anonymous, abusive message the activist received after last year’s vote, which he said removed “any doubt about how appallingly racist some Australians are”.
The disturbing text referred to Mayo’s skin colour: “I know what an Aboriginal Australian looks like, and that’s not you. David Gulpilil does, but not you.”
The late David Gulpilil was an indigenous actor.
Mayo said he wouldn’t normally share a message like that, which uses offensive terms about “full-blooded Aboriginals” and “wannabes,” but said he had received worse and it was important to share it as an example of racism.
Below are some of the myths Mayo presents in his book and some of his responses. Mayo said the list is “not definitive” but “might be a useful starting point.”
1. ‘It would always have been invaded’
Mayo says that no matter who colonised Australia, the Europeans were no more intelligent for having outgunned the Aborigines. Above, sketch showing Captain Cook landing at Botany Bay, 1770
May wrote that it does not really matter whether the French, the Dutch or any other colonial power would have invaded if the British Empire had not.
He argued that the fact that First Nations were less armed than Europeans did not justify what followed.
In fact, he points out that Aboriginal peoples already had the capacity to live alongside each other peacefully and engaged in less bloody conflicts than those observed in other parts of the world.
2. ‘They will take away your backyard’
Warnings about the encroachment of white people’s homes and belongings by indigenous people are “fear-mongering” and “have never happened and will never happen.” Above, girls at Pukatja Roadhouse, 450km south of Alice Springs
Mayo wrote that every time indigenous people have come close to achieving positive change, “the same old warnings” have emerged.
Australians risk losing “their possessions and privileges, in particular having their homes and lands taken away by Aboriginals.”
The book recounts how the same insults have been heard in political battles involving indigenous peoples for decades, including in cases over land rights, equal pay and native title.
He said warnings about lost backyards and separate governments “have never happened and will never happen.”
3. “$30 billion is spent annually on half a million indigenous people”
That Mayo spends $30 billion a year on indigenous programs is “a lie” and was echoed by Warren Mundine (above, right) and then Tony Abbott during The Voice’s “No” campaign.
Mayo said the actual amount spent annually on Indigenous programs is about $6 billion, but a false claim that $30 billion is spent annually on Australia’s 500,000 Indigenous people has been spread, including by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Mayo said she regularly heard that figure – which she called a damaging lie – promoted by the Voice No campaign.
‘In fact, while the Productivity Commission estimated that around $30 billion was spent on Indigenous services in 2012-13, that total included mainstream services that all Australians have access to, such as funding for defence, foreign aid, schools and health care.’
Only a small amount of that $6 billion reaches the communities, he argued.
4. Who is a “true aboriginal”?
“It is not up to non-indigenous people to determine who is or is not indigenous,” Mayo wrote.
He noted that there is a formal process for determining who is Indigenous in Australia, which involves three criteria.
It involves being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, identifying as such and being accepted as such by the community in which you lived or live.
5. “The indigenous people do not want to work”
Mayo wrote that this is completely false and racist.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people work and pay taxes like other Australians, but at the same time they must contend with prejudice, inherited health problems and poverty.
The fact that there are more indigenous people unemployed and receiving welfare is a systemic problem, not a question of race or culture.
Always Was, Always Will Be, by Thomas Mayo, published by Hardie Grant
Thomas Mayo’s new book aims to be a guide to how to “continue the campaign for peace and justice for indigenous people after losing the referendum.”
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