Australia Day protesters urged to bring cash and cards to ‘pay the rent’ to Aboriginal Australians

An Aboriginal activist group is calling on Australia Day protesters to turn up with cash and credit cards to “pay the rent” for Australia.

Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance (W.A.R) will be carrying mobile payment terminals and donation tins to collect money from protesters at the ‘Melbourne Invasion Day 2020’ rally on Sunday.

The Victorian Greens are supporting the rally, which is expected to be large, with 3,900 people indicating they are ‘going’ on Facebook.

The group says the funds will “go to funeral funds for families” and other fundraising initiatives for Indigenous Australians.

Former Greens MP and Aboriginal activist Lidia Thorpe said it’s not a new concept.

“It’s about reparations. If we look at South Africa, for example, they’ve had a reparation system with $100 million in their funds. If you look at the Canadian government: $600 million to survivors of the stolen generation. Then we go over to New Zealand where they’ve paid close to $1.5 billion in reparations to Maori,” she told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.

“Australia has not paid any reparations at all, and because we don’t have a treaty with our first peoples, this is a way where ordinary Australians can contribute.”

Ms Thorpe said the money will go “to a fund where Aboriginal people will self-determine the needs of the time”.

She said the money may be used for costs associated with mass incarceration, mass removal of children, and deaths in custody.

But Neil Mitchell questioned whether the money raised will be used responsibly.

“Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance is not the most credible organisation in the world,” the 3AW Mornings host said.

“You don’t freely go out and collect money without being accountable.

“Where will the money go?”

The funds collected by W.A.R will not be tax deductible.

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Image (background): Anadolu Agency / Contributor