Sally Scales on QandA: We need to be part of the nation’s rulebook
Sally Scales appeared on the ABC's QandA program.
Uluru Dialogue leader and APY artist Sally Scales has appeared on ABC’s QandA program and stressed the importance of listening to the wishes and pleas of Indigenous elders when it comes to Constitutional Recognition of First Nations people.
Ms Scales appeared on the Patricia Karvelas-hosted program, filmed in South Australia, alongside Premier of SA Peter Malinauskas, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, Liberal Member for Sturt James Stevens and Indigenous actor Natasha Wanganeen.
“What the elders said on the ground during the National Constitutional Convention at Uluru in 2017 and throughout the regional dialogues held beforehand was ‘we need to be a part of the Constitution, the nation’s rulebook, so that our place isn’t dismantled,” Ms Scales said.
“So often our people get used to a program, how it's run, before there will be a change of government, who will introduce a spang-dangled new thing or program, because it's their legacy piece, not the legacy of our communities. And they get away with it.
“What we're actually saying is, ‘No, let us use our skills through this laws and policies process.
“I’m a grassroots person from a remote community and I'm sitting there with my elders, the women who I sit and talk to all the time, who want better outcomes for our kids and young women across the country.
“This is something that is affecting all of us.”
