Letter to The Editor - The Victorian state opposition is right that the making of treaties is a prerogative of the federal government

To The Age          Greens MP Lidia Thorpe is simply wrong in claiming that Aboriginal people still own Victoria ('Aboriginal treaty must go further: Greens MP', 7/6). Sovereignty of the state has long been vested in Her Majesty the Queen of Australia. The only correct way to change that situation would be by a properly conducted referendum as stipulated by our Constitution. Radical agitators know that no such referendum would give them the result they want, so they are trying all sorts of spurious efforts of de-authorization of our nation, its history and government. Some states claiming without a thread of legal justification to have the right to enact treaties with 'the Aboriginal people' (a community not easily defined) is one such strategy. The Victorian state opposition is right that the making of treaties is a prerogative of the federal government.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic