i-am-vampire:

“Some people might question why you would want to remove race from the constitution and then replace it with a power to legislate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I would say we have to get away from this 19th-century idea that Aboriginal people are members of a “race”. Their identity is based on ancestry, ethnicity and belief systems, not race. We need to have laws that relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people just as we do for many groups in society - women, the elderly, the disabled, veterans, people living in remote areas - but these laws should be based on need and the national interest, not race. Need because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people remain Australia’s most disadvantaged citizens. The national interest because their cultures and languages are unique to this country to be celebrated as part of our common heritage.”

—

Mark Leibler, The Age (via monkeytypist)

Hey Mark Leibler, shut up. 

What do you mean Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people are not a race (or two races, ya know)? Fuck. Seriously 

“These laws should be based on need and the national interest.” Yes, Mark it is in the national interest to impose “White” Australian values upon a vast group of people who have already suffered so much since the theft of their land in 1788. 

Fuck I hate it when people attempt to disguise racism against Indigenous Australians by suggesting that the government/business/whoever is just trying to help. All that happens when you do that is you end up sounding like a patronising, elitist little fuckhead.

Not sure where this hostility comes from… “race” is a nineteenth-century pseudoscientific term invented by white people and imposed on indigenous peoples to further colonialist agendas. It’s a simplistic idea that doesn’t properly respect Aboriginal ethnic and cultural heritage.

When Leibler says there isn’t an Aboriginal race he’s not saying that there isn’t such a thing as an Aboriginal identity, just that it’s not biologically determined (which it isn’t).

Leibler is speaking as member and co-chair of the committee that has been talking about amendments to the constitution with a number of respected Australian indigenous community leaders. He’s reflecting his own opinion, of course, but I don’t see him as seeking to impose “white” values on anyone.