Yesterday Premier Colin Barnett and some of his colleagues met with the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALASC) representing the Noongar People in order to consider the offer and develop a response.
There was a tent embassy type beating on the glass protest as the protesters vented their view that the offer was a sell out and that the SWALASC does not represent all Noongar people.
There is a long way to go in working through this offer and in the end it may not be accepted. A major positive is that it presents the Noongar Peoples with an opportunity to talk comprehensively and exhaustively to map out where they want to go. Such talk will no doubt be at times hostile and angry and at other times full of vision and hope. If it results in a Noongar consensus for a way forward, even if it is not the WA Government offer, surely that would be something to celebrate.
It would also give the Australian population at large an insight into Aboriginal issues and the determination of this significant group of First Australians to resolve matters. What could be better on the eve of the Constitutional referendum on recognising the First Peoples.
