Letter to the Editor - Only a very small number of Australians have nothing but indigenous DNA

To The Age        Teela Reid, who has Wiradjuri and Wailwan ancestry, refers to "a First Nations Voice" ("Heart in search of a voice", 26/1), but can such a thing really exist or be brought into being at this stage of our history? It is not clear that the tribes which lived here before the 18th Century can be accurately described as "First Nations" and, in any case, they no longer exist - so how can they have a voice today? The great majority of Australians who identify as indigenous have some non-indigenous blood. Only a very small number of Australians have nothing but indigenous DNA. Thus very few of those who put themselves forward as indigenous spokespeople or leaders truly have the unadulterated representative status that they claim. Therefore, their agitation for "constitutional recognition", including the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for a changed date for Australia Day, is morally built on sand.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic