‘Simply No Time’: Liberal MP Denied First Nations Man Chance To Speak On All-White Voice Panel

An Aboriginal man was removed from a community forum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament after he slammed the all-white panel that included former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and journalist Joe Hildebrand.  On Wednesday afternoon in Sydney’s West, Federal Liberal member for Hughes Jenny Ware hosted a community forum that was live-streamed to her

official Facebook page. The stream abruptly ended when a Gumbaynggirr and Dunghutti man, who has been identified by NITV Uncle Phill Dotti, was removed from the event after sharing his opinions on the panel’s discussion.  In the final moments of the forum, a woman from the crowd called to hear a voice from a First Nations person, to which Ware replied: “We don’t have the time. We simply do not have the time.”

Source: Facebook / Jenny Ware MP – Federal Member For Hughes

As Ware responded to the audience member, Dotti could be seen walking towards the stage. When he reached the Liberal member, Dotti addressed the forum and introduced himself to the crowd and the panel.

Source: Facebook / Jenny Ware MP – Federal Member For Hughes

“I come from an era where there was discrimination. I come from an era where I was told I was too dark,” Dotti said. “These are the words you all wanna pick: colonisation, constitution, law, policies, Stolen Generation. They are system words. Those words will be detrimental to Indigenous people from day one. “You’re up here Tony, Joe, talking about the constitution. That is a system word.” Dotti then focused on Abbott and acknowledged his role in the John Howard government.

Source: Facebook / Jenny Ware MP – Federal Member For Hughes

“Tony, you were a minister in the Howard government. The Howard government abolished ATSIC (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission),” he said. “That was our voice.” “The truth hurts people,” Dotti said before the video was cut off. According to NITV, Dotti claimed he was pushed off the stage and removed from the forum. “I did it for my mother. She was a community person before we called them community people,” Dotti said. “Sometimes people have got to stand up. I don’t mind standing up for my beliefs, my family, my community and the Aboriginal people.” Aunty Dolly Brown, an Aboriginal elder who was present at Ware’s forum, told the Sydney Morning Herald she had felt ignored by Ware. Brown also claimed that the microphone was only handed to non-Indigenous people. “Four times, the mic went around. I kept putting my hand up. It’s like it was all played out that First Nations people weren’t going to have a voice that night,” Brown said. “It was totally rude of Jenny. We were all sitting there with a lot of black faces around me.” According to The  St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader, the forum was supposed to run for two hours. However, Ware’s live stream only ran for an hour and 40 minutes. Many folks headed to her Facebook page to slam the MP for the all-white panel and for silencing Mr Dotti. “All white speakers, then when an Indigenous man wants to speak, you cut the feed. This is the reason for the Voice. Liberals silencing anyone they don’t want to hear from,” one person wrote. A second person wrote: “No time for the Aboriginal man to speak; that’s the whole reason we need a Voice. Imagine having a panel of white people talking about this.” Ware has yet to address the comments and concerns about the treatment of Dotti, however in a statement per The Guardian , Ware said: “Panellists Joe Hildebrand (for the yes campaign) and the Hon Tony Abbott AC (for the no campaign) approached the debate in a respectful and thoughtful manner.” According to NITV, Mr Dotti doesn’t believe he will not hear back from Ms Ware in regard to his treatment on Wednesday night.

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Oh, the irony. After addressing Abbott, Dotti told an audience member, “Listen old man, I have the stage, not you,” before the live stream abruptly stopped.