First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria member Dylan Clarke is 'horrified' after discovering a fake letter impersonating him, which talks about the 'reacquisition of land' in Loddon and Buloke shires.
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Watch the full stand up.
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00:00 today. My name is Dylan Clark. I'm a proud Wadjabalik man from the Moomerap,
00:04 chairperson of the Beringia Gaijin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation,
00:06 representing the Wadjabalik, Djaadba, Djaadba Djali,
00:09 Ngyiwara and Djaadba Goyal peoples of the Wadjabalik nations.
00:12 I sit on the First Peoples Assembly of Victoria as the Beringia Gaijin
00:16 representative. That area is my home and I love it. I play
00:20 an active role in my community and I represent my people proudly.
00:23 So obviously I was horrified to learn that someone had gone to lengths to
00:26 impersonate me. It's an attempt to damage my reputation
00:29 and create fear about an important work that we're doing
00:32 and trying to get done on a shared journey to create treaty.
00:36 It really is the dark act. I'm really disappointed about the lack of respect
00:40 so many people in our community are shown. We're trying to have important
00:45 conversations and we have morons taking fake letters
00:48 like this out in the community, creating fear amongst
00:54 people, creating fear and anxiety. We are better than this.
00:59 Treaty is about coming together with respect to having
01:02 honest conversations about how we can create a better future together.
01:07 When our culture, languages and knowledge of these lands are embraced,
01:11 everybody can benefit. I'm always going to be up front. Of
01:16 course we'll have some tough conversations ahead of us
01:18 but at this stage we're all asking for people to listen.
01:23 I've written my own letter, a real letter, that I'll be trying to make sure that it
01:27 gets to all local landholders to correct the record.
01:30 I understand that local MP Peter Walsh has also shared the real letter on his
01:34 social media channels last night which I appreciate. I hope that this is a
01:39 reminder to him of the work that needs to be done
01:42 to make sure that misinformation doesn't get a foothold in our community.
01:46 My door is always open. I'm always up for a yarn
01:49 so if anyone in the area does have any questions they'll always be welcome to
01:53 reach out to me. I'm happy to yarn treaty with them.
01:58 I don't know who received the fake letter so please get in touch.
02:01 I believe the vast majority of people in the northwest are willing to show good
02:04 will and to come to these topics with an open
02:07 mind. I hope that they will talk with us and
02:10 walk with us to create a better future. I hope that our kids can grow up
02:15 together without this type of racism, without this kind of fear-mongering,
02:19 trying to scare people about something that should be embraced and celebrated.
02:24 Thanks for listening. I'd like to thank all my fellow members
02:28 for supporting me. These members have been entrusted in their communities
02:32 to get treaty done. I'll hand over to the co-chairs to answer any
02:37 particular questions that the journalists might have as well. Thank you.
02:43 [Applause]
02:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]