Key Points
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited islands in Torres Strait, but not Mer Island
- Mer Island representative says island would be open to investment from China.
Content warning: This story contains images of people who have died
A representative from a remote Torres Strait Islander community has criticised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to visit any of the islands identified locally as Torres Strait Islander land.
And in a move that will send shockwaves through Canberra, the community of Mer Island is now open to Chinese investment, arguing it’s been neglected by its own governments.
Mr Albanese has just returned from a trip to the region, where he visited multiple islands to consult on the Voice to Parliament proposal.
Speaking in Rockhampton after visiting the seat of Torres Strait governance Thursday Island as well as Horn Island, Mr Albanese declared the visit a “huge success.”
The prime minister , who travelled to meet with him.
Mr Albanese met with the Torres Strait Islander Regional Council, Torres Shire Council and the Torres Strait Regional Authority.
The member representing Mer Island on the authority, Bob Kaigey, was among those present.
But on Mer Island, the birthplace and resting place of Indigenous rights activist Eddie Koiki Mabo, there is a different view.
Melora Noah, a senior woman from Mer Island, has exclusively told SBS News her community has been ignored and overlooked by state and territory governments for decades.
Melora Noah (right) at the welcoming ceremony for Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Mer Island in 2015. Source: AAP / TRACEY NEARMY
Ms Noah said Australia needs to "start looking at Aboriginal people as one race of First Nation people, and Torres Strait Islanders as another separate distinct race, and start treating us like that".
“Stop putting us all into the one basket and speak from the heart,” she said.
And in an explosive revelation, she says Mer Island is open to following Solomon Islands in seeking Chinese investment, if Australia won't support her people to have an economic future.
SBS World News Chief Political Correspondent Anna Henderson speaks with Melora Noah over video call. Source: SBS News / Naveen Razik.
“Is Australia still interested in us? Does Australia still want to take care of us? Or should we look elsewhere.”
Solomon Islands has signed a security deal with the Chinese government which has stoked Western concerns about the potential construction of a military base.
Just how far Torres Strait communities have gone in exploring Chinese investment, and what they want to build, remains unclear.
“We don't go out and, and, you know, look for China to come in and, set up a military base here, all we want to do is feed our family,” Ms Noah said.
Mer Island is part of Australia and is governed by Australia's constitution.
Any investments from overseas companies, including those based in China, would need to be approved by the Foreign Investment Review board.
'Route of sovereignty'
came from Uluru and was largely formed on the basis of Aboriginal representation, some of the Torres Strait Islands have their own statement of request, named in honour of Mabo.
2022 marks 30 years since the Mabo case, a landmark ruling for Indigenous Australians in the fight for native title.
Speaking on behalf of her community, Ms Noah said the Statement from the Heart does not stand for them.
“Our prime minister really needs to come to the motherland of the Torres Strait Islanders and do our statement,” she said.
Eddie Mabo (left) and Jack Wailu at home on the island of Mer in the Torres Strait Islands in 1990, during the High Court hearings in the Mabo Case, which eventually recognised Indigenous people's title to their lands. Credit: NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA/PR IMAGE
“We're still part of the Australian government, part of the Queensland government and we have the rules and regulations in place. But at the same time, we're still going down this route of sovereignty,” she said.
Mr Albanese told Torres Strait Islanders he would be back and that the trip was shorter than he wanted it to be.
He made assurances Torres Strait Islander people will be given adequate representation in the final structure of the Voice.
“There was unanimous support for the Voice to Parliament: from the Torres Strait Regional Authority, from the three councils in the Torres Strait and the Northern Peninsula who we met with this morning,” he said.
“The general position of the Torres Strait Islanders was that they want to make sure that the voice of a minority within a minority is also able to be heard through those structures,” he said.
“The Voice isn't the end in itself. It's a Voice so that we can close the gap and address Indigenous disadvantage, which is something that we need to do, not just on behalf of Indigenous Australians, but on behalf of lifting up the whole nation.”
The trip marked Mr Albanese’s fourth visit to the Torres Strait Islands as an MP and he has visited Mer Island previously.
Indigenous Affairs minister Linda Burney will return to the Torres Strait in December for another trip.
