Aboriginal tent embassy vows to stay

by Rohan Gowland

The Aboriginal tent embassy in Canberra faces the threat of removal. The 
Federal Government is manoeuvring to have the Aboriginal tent embassy 
removed from the lawns of Federal Parliament House.

The issue hit the media around Australia Day, when suggestions about 
removing the embassy issued forth from a number of quarters.

Federal Territories Minister, Senator Ian McDonald was one vocal 
participant, referring to the embassy as "those ramshackle structures".

One Nation's ACT Branch joined in the fray, saying, "They should get rid of 
the ugly tents" and replace the embassy with a monument.

The National Capital Authority (NCA), the body responsible for the grounds 
occupied by the tent embassy, was reported last week as saying the site was 
as an "eyesore" and should be removed. However the NCA has since told 
The Guardian that it does not want to remove the embassy.

It is believed that the Government is planning to use a trespassing law 
from the 1930s which the NCA dug up and requested the Government to 
gazette.

If acted upon, the law would enable the removal of parked cars, tents, and 
any other form of occupation on the area called the Parliamentary Triangle.

An NCA spokeswoman told The Guardian that the gazettal of the law 
was not for the purpose of removing tents, but just to remove a number of 
illegally parked vehicles on the embassy site.

The spokeswoman also said all other grounds governed by the NCA had similar 
laws already in place.

While the NCA pleads innocence, the media campaign denigrating the embassy, 
suggests the Government is serious about removing it. Further evidence of 
this was offered by Heritage Minister Senator Hill's office and the 
Australian Heritage Commission, both of whom said last week that a review 
of the tent embassy's heritage listing was planned.

The National Trust of Australia, concerned about the threat to the heritage 
value of the site, has decided to move forward its consideration of whether 
to add the tent embassy to the Trust's heritage list.

Even so, such a listing would not necessarily protect the structures on the 
site.

The first Aboriginal protest at the site was in 1927 at the opening of 
Parliament House.

The first tent embassy was erected on Australia Day, 1972, and called an 
"embassy" to symbolise the feeling of many Aboriginal people that they were 
foreigners in their own country so long as they have no legal freehold 
title to any part of Australia.

After a few months, there were violent clashes with police attempting to 
remove it.

The present embassy was set up in 1992.

Residents of the embassy said last week that it is a symbol of the fight of 
Aboriginal people for land rights and that is why the Government wants it 
removed.