Last week, Senator Lidia Thorpe announced her resignation from The Greens, reiterating her support for a First Nations sovereignty movement. “This country has a strong grassroots Blak sovereign movement, full of staunch and committed warriors and I want to represent that movement fully in this Parliament … I can’t do that from within the Greens,” Senator Thorpe said.
Hot off the heels of her resignation and our own recent interview with Senator Lidia Thorpe on a Blak-led Republic comes our interview with Kamilaroi grassroots sovereign activist, Lisa Smith. Like Thorpe, Smith shares a vision of a First Nations-led Republic Movement that prioritises sovereignty, treaty, and truth as the foundations of a self-determining Australian governance.
Throughout our interview, Smith explains a version of Australia becoming a republic led by a treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, her conflict with the Voice and Uluru Statement, and how her ancestors helped inform her activism.
Merryana Salem, Junkee: Can you introduce yourself and tell us why you’re passionate about the Republic movement and how you got into it?
Lisa Smith: I’m Lisa Smith. I’m a Kamilaroi woman from Northwestern NSW. I’m studying psychology and law, and I’m passionate about a republic movement because it implies so many things … This is important to me because the system of government that we’ve had was built upon lies. The harm that was inflicted upon our people, and still is being inflicted, needs to end. Our people need to see justice with a system that cares for all its people. And this movement advocates for Indigenous people first and foremost. But I want the support of all Australian people so that we can build a framework for a new foundation of government together.
The First Nations-Led Republic Movement’s aim is to create committees around Australia to decide on a framework model for a republic, incorporating Indigenous governing models and implementing necessary Indigenous laws. The implications of our model will be uniting Australian people; land back for Indigenous people; climate action and land care; building practical infrastructure; especially in our Indigenous communities, rural and remote, which are where most of our people live. And we’re talking about education; recreation; rehabilitation; mental health; employment, which is very lacking.
Also, with making a republic, we have an opportunity to create a new constitution so that everything that’s in a treaty can also be in a constitution, to protect the rights of everybody. So that’s my passion for [the] republic because, well, that’s what our framework will work towards.
I wanted to speak to you about your family history and how that informs your passion about the First Nations-led Republic Movement.
So, I’m an Indigenous person from the Kamilaroi tribe, but I’m also a descendant of two signers of the Declaration of Independence. And my uncle was the writer of the preamble of the Constitution [of the United States] and he wrote, “we, the people”. He also spoke about the curse of slavery and how that affected a lot of Americans, Native and African-American. So I found a lot of information with looking at my own family history, [and] I’ve kind of taken that information and incorporated that into what [I believe] Australia can be and how it can protect its people in modern times properly.
That’s just so cool.
[Laughs] Love you.
Do you think Australia would be more open to a republic now because Queen Elizabeth is dead? Why? What’s changed?
I don’t believe that a lot of Australian people actually trust the King to make good decisions. Well, as [an] Indigenous person, most of our people never ever trusted the monarchy. And why should they? They were the colonists … I think the only people that will actually stand by the monarchy are those conservative people who don’t like change. Well, [a Republic is] not for them, it’s for the future generations. It’s for our children and their children’s children because they shouldn’t live in a country where it was built upon lies, corruption and a lot of other things that we could discuss.
Genocide, for example.
Exactly.
You’re in the process of creating the Aboriginal-led Republic Movement, and are a participant in the Foundation for Young Australians’ Collective Imagining program. Why has your involvement in this program and with this organisation been so important to you?
Yeah, so I actually got in touch with them from one of my family members who worked at Just Reinvest, which [is auspiced by] the Aboriginal Legal Service … She emailed me a flyer about the movement building program, and it’s actually run by activists and leaders around Australia who are mentoring the 50 young Australians who applied for this program. So I’ve [now] received a grant from FYA to host an event, and they’ve been advising me during the process.
That [event] actually happened two weeks ago in a suburb in Coffs Harbor, which was good. We only had a few people, but we’re getting there and I had a few organisations come, so we’re collaborating with other people to be involved [next time]. We’re looking forward to more events soon, [and] still learning from FYA and their leaders … So us 50 Dreamers are creating movements to create social change, like greater social change for the future.
I’m so happy because something that Senator Thorpe said was that this has to be grassroots-led, like it has to be from the ground up. It’s so important and so incredible that there are people like you already out there on the ground fighting the good fight. It’s so exciting, and so exciting for me to talk to you.
Oh, I’m excited too. You’re making me more excited!
Is there anything about a republic that you would like people to know and understand that we haven’t discussed yet?
Yes, there’s a sheet on the Independent Australian website, and it shows you the different models for a republic. [If] you look at other countries, America’s got a republic … India has a republic and China has a republic … We can create our own model for our own people. For Australian people, why shouldn’t we be proud of that? Like, who wants somebody from a foreign country to be saying what we should be doing? It’s stupid.
It defeats the whole purpose of a republic.
I also have a timeline, which I haven’t discussed.
Oh, please, yes, let’s discuss the potential timeline.
So, I’ve created a timeline for the republic movement. It’s just a draft, but I had a look at the Australian Republic Movement website and it shows a lot of information of what … kind of work they’ve done. Apparently they started in like 2015, so they’ve done a fair bit of work in that time. I’ve been watching the news as well, and … the Prime Minister [Anthony Albanese] has been talking about how they might hold a referendum at the end of their term. So I’ve kind of worked out [a timeline] within that time.
So, this year is the launch, and then next year we intend on having those conversations and gaining momentum with Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people. And then [in] 2024, [I’m proposing] we have a national vote of all our tribes – non-Indigenous people as well – and discussing creating their own framework, [including] amendments to law; additions to law; traditional law; and structures to reflect the needs of the people in the constitution.
In ’25, [we would then] have consultation, negotiate, and discuss with the Australian Republic movement and legal and government agencies too. [We could discuss] if we have to compromise on our model or we can just have discussions of how we’re going to present that to the people — if we can have a vote on which model we want or if we can combine them in some type of way, too. Everything [would have to be] in the best needs of the people. We are thinking about the needs of the people first. That is the goal. So, at the end of 2025 should be a referendum, I’m hoping, and we will put it through our framework.
When we were chatting earlier, you spoke about how the Uluru Statement is not really helpful, in your opinion, in regards to the Blak-led Republic movement. Could you talk about why?
It’s a bit conflicting because I love the Statement, but there is a phrase in there, which specifically says that we share sovereignty with the Crown. Why should we share sovereignty with the Crown? They’re the people that colonised our country and killed so many people, and a lot more [atrocities] than that, but I don’t wanna discuss that right now. So, I don’t know what the implications would be if we become a republic with having that Statement, maybe they will have to take that part of the Statement out because we will not share sovereignty with the crown. We will share it with the Australians in a treaty if we need it; if it’s necessary. But we can put so many things from the treaty in the Constitution that protects everybody’s rights.
That’s a really great point that, you know, what’s better than a treaty? An actual constitution that’s drawn up by both parties. Is there anything else you want to share before we wrap this up?
I will say as well that our law, our traditional law, is at least 500,000 years old. I read in an article that we are that old: half a million years. We have lived in Australia, one of the oldest cultures in the world, one with its own law system … If the Australian people are looking for stability, what is more stable than a law that’s been in Australia for 500,000 years? I mean, come on.
And the Defense rests.
[Laughs]
You can follow the movement and learn more about it on Instagram, @firstnationsled_republic_aus and on Facebook here.
Editor’s note: Lisa Smith contacted Junkee in early February to clarify that she no longer refers to the movement as the “Aboriginal-led” Republic Movement. The movement is now referred to as the First Nations-led Republic Movement. This conversation has also been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Correction, 27/2/2023: A previous version of this article mentioned the Foundation for Young Australians as collaborators with Lisa Smith. Smith has participated in the Foundation for Young Australians’ Collective Imagining program, but the organisation is not a direct collaborator with Smith on the First Nations-led Republic Movement. We have changed the nature of our question to Smith to better reflect the nature of the organisation’s involvement.