Aboriginal activist refuses to attend Hobart court

Australian Community Media

Environmentalist Bob Brown has explained why Aboriginal activist Jim Everett does not recognise the court. Video via AAP. Jim Everett is not pictured in the video.

Transcript

00:00 The court, which is not recognised by Jim Everett because his people were here long before this court was established,

00:10 has now issued an order to take into risk.

00:14 This is a terrible circumstance, which has to be understood by all us who are non-Aboriginal in Australia,

00:24 that our court system didn't rule over Aboriginal people, First Nations people, right across Australia,

00:34 and there has been no provision for that rule to overtake the Indigenous people of Australia, the First Nations people.

00:44 So there arises now a circumstance where a court is overriding the sovereignty of Jim Everett,

01:00 this Aboriginal man who has such enormous respect in the Tasmanian First Nations community,

01:12 but right across this island and across Australia.

01:18 This is a seminal moment in the jurisdiction between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians.

01:28 There has never been a treaty in this country. There should have been.

01:32 Every similar country in the world has got a treaty with the original people of that country

01:40 where people have invaded, taken over and established courts. This country doesn't.

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