Intense controversy has been stirred by an outspoken indigenous activist who claims she won’t mourn the Queen’s passing and sees her legacy as an expression of colonialism.
Elizabeth II passed away in Scotland’s Balmoral Castle at the age of 96, and King Charles III was named the next monarch.
Some indigenous Australians have denounced her legacy as an icon of colonialism in the midst of the world’s grief over her passing.
Ambassador for the Aboriginal Tent Embassy Gwenda Stanley is one of those who won’t cry.
She told the Sydney Morning Herald, “We can’t lament something that has colonised us for so many generations.”
According to the heritage of the monarchs, who benefited from the slaughter of Indigenous people in and around this country, they lived a life of opulence.
If anything, there are numerous colonies over the globe to celebrate. Even though she made several trips to Australia, the unfairness of the genocides is something she will carry with her forever.
However, not all indigenous leaders agree with Ms. Stanley’s views, and some have defended the Queen by arguing that she inherited the position and cannot be held responsible for what occurred before her reign.
Outspoken Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said that many other indigenous Australians share her high regard for the Queen and that she served the Commonwealth “extremely well” throughout her 70-year reign.
When the British arrived at the coastlines, I believe we were in the finest conceivable situation, she stated.
If the land had been settled by the Spanish or Dutch, the outcomes for Indigenous Australians may have been “much more terrible,” she said.
During the late Queen’s 70-year reign, she made 16 trips to Australia. The Queen is seen here during a 2011 visit to Canberra.
Professor Tom Calma, chancellor of the University of Canberra, concurred and emphasised that the Queen ascended to the throne more than 150 years after the British colonised Australia.
But he thinks that, 23 years after Australians rejected establishing a republic, the death of the Queen should rekindle discussion about Australia’s place in the Commonwealth and the possibility of another referendum.
Since then, Australian republic discussion has been quashed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Mr. Albanese said that he would put off investigating “issues concerning our constitution” at least until a potential second term in 2025 because of “great respect and regard” for the Queen.
He said on Sunday on the ABC’s Insiders programme, “Now is not the time to discuss our form of government; now is the moment for us to pay honour to the life of Queen Elizabeth.”
As the prime minister of Australia, it is my duty to uphold the system of government that we now have.
It is obvious that the country is in sorrow.
Three days after the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey in London, Australians will be treated to a national holiday on September 22 in her honour.