Larissa Waters Australian Greens Senator for Queensland Senator the Hon Marise Payne Minister for Foreign Affairs PO Box 6100 Senate, Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 Via email: s enator.payne@aph.gov.au 25 March 2019 Dear Minister Payne Repatriation of Yidindji ancestral remains I am writing in support of the Yidindji Foreign Minister, Murrumu of Walubara, and to request that the Australian government takes effective measures to allow him to travel to Germany to escort the Yidindji ancestral remains in the repatriation process that is taking place between 7 and 18 April 2019. As set out in the letter from Murrumu to you, among other recipients, on 21 March 2019, he has been asked to do so as a matter of protocol. There will be a number of other Yidindji members participating in the event, but they are travelling as Australian citizens. Murrumu does not hold or use the Australian identity, so is limited by the existing protocols between Australia and Germany. In his letter, Murrumu has requested details of what effective measures the Commonwealth of Australia and the Federal Republic of Germany are going to take to ensure that he can exercise his right to cross international borders under article 36 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I would like to kindly request that you provide a response to Murrumu, with a copy to me, in a timely way so that the repatriation process can occur without delay. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any queries. Yours faithfully,
Larissa Waters Australian Greens Senator for Queensland Level 2, 251 Given Terrace, Brisbane • Suite 1.49, Parliament House, Canberra Ph: 07 3367 0566 • Locked Bag 3004, Paddington Qld 4064 • senator.waters@aph.gov.au
We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we work: the Turrubul, Jagera and Quandamooka peoples. We pay respect to their elders past, present and emerging, and acknowledge that their sovereignty was never ceded.