Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I would like to talk about the staunch, powerful Kanak peoples, who are, at this very moment, rising up against the occupation of their land by the French government and are fighting for their independence, their sovereignty and their lives up. You might not know the name 'Kanaky', but you will know 'New Caledonia', the name given to these islands by the chief coloniser of the Pacific, Captain 'Coloniser' Cook. The French claimed possession of New Caledonia in 1853, which led to the Kanak clans being displaced, persecuted, discriminated against, murdered and subjected to apartheid systems. Australia—so-called 'Australia'—is involved in this colonial project. Over 60,000 South Sea islanders including Kanak people were brought here as forced labour, known as blackbirding. Many were sent back due to the White Australia policy.

In response to the resistance of the Kanak peoples in 1972, the then French prime minister Pierre Messmer said that the only long-term solution to the independence issue and to maintain control of the land was to flood the territory with white settlers. True to their intentions, France encouraged mass migration of illegal settlers from mainland France, causing extreme violence between 1984 and 1988. This was a period known as 'the Events', as the Kanak resisted the theft of their land. This resistance was smashed by the French government, whose violence included the decapitation and theft of the head of the Kanak chief Atai. The Events led to the signing of the Noumea accords, key provisions of which laid out New Caledonia's path to full sovereignty, and the United Nations passed a resolution affirming the inalienable right of the people of New Caledonia to self-determination and independence.

The current conflict relates to the attempts of the French government to suppress the recognition of the Kanak indigenous rights and to bury the Noumea accord through a series of controversial referendums, including expanding voting rights to settlers with the intention to overpower the voices of the Kanak. The most recent referendum on independence versus remaining a French territory, in 2021, saw a boycott from the majority of the Kanak population who were going through a traditional period of mourning after the death of their people from COVID, which accounted for over 78 per cent of the deaths in the country. As intended, the votes of the colonial settlers wishing to retain French control of the land succeeded, and Macron claimed the referendum a victory.

In response to tactics aimed at excluding Kanak from self-determining their homeland's future, Kanak leaders for independence have protested through diplomatic negotiations, engagement with the UN and street demonstrations. What sparked the uprising was the shooting death of a young Kanak boy, the incarceration of 2,000 Kanak people and the arrest of Kanak leaders who have been taken to France for trial. France has responded by deploying over 4,500 military personnel and massive amounts of weapons, including tanks.

We have seen the use of discriminatory, excessive and disproportionate actions, and executions and disappearances of Kanak activists. French forces have invaded Kanaky villages, randomly arresting people and harassing, raping and bribing those desperate for food, money and health care. Kanak blockades have been torn down by the French army, while white vigilante violence and blockades have been either ignored or protected.

The Kanak people, the people of West Papua and Palestine and the First Peoples of this land have all seen similar tactics used by colonial oppressors who deny our sovereignty and our rights in order to maintain the legitimacy of their illegal occupation.