Letter to The Editor - The "constitutional recognition" situation could be laughed off as Gilbertian if it were not also a sinister assault on our hitherto successful political order

To The Australian          Aboriginal Mick Gooda claims that "you can't have a treaty unless it's based on the truth" ("Fears for treaty if LNP takes control: Gooda", 9/12). Well, the truth is that all current attempts to establish treaties with Aboriginals are ethically built on sand and are clearly against the interests of most Australians. Another truth is that the so-called "eminent panel" of which he is a member is in no way adequately representative of Australians as a whole. Mr Gooda also wants a "truth-telling" operation whose outcomes are to become "an essential part of the school curriculum". Whose truth, I wonder. It sounds more like a propaganda drive such as the Soviet communists used and George Orwell satirised so memorably. In Victoria only 2,000 Aboriginal Victorians out of 30,000 who were eligible participated in the state's improperly constituted elections for the "First People's Assembly". Meanwhile Mr Gooda wants "multiple treaties" as well. The "constitutional recognition" situation could be laughed off as Gilbertian if it were not also a sinister assault on our hitherto successful political order.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic