To The Age          What authority in terms of law ('Aboriginal elders criticise treaty talks', 15/5) does 'Victoria's historic treaty process' really have? To most of us the prerogative of signing treaties seems to lie only with the federal government, which has full responsibility for foreign affairs. Can the Prime Minister clarify the situation for us? Looking at the photograph of a mere twenty or thirty persons, some of whom appear only part-Aboriginal, I do not see a group which I believe has the right in 2018 to make constitutional claims on my nation's government. I doubt if they would be recognized by tribal law before the British settled here; and I doubt if they normally wear that ancient style of dress in daily life. In short, I believe that a fraud is being worked on the people of our state and on Australians generally.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic