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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Indigenous elder removed from Barack Obama event for being ‘too difficult’ | Indigenous elder removed from Barack Obama event for being ‘too difficult’ |
| (31 minutes later) | |
| Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy was due to give the welcome to country for former US president in Melbourne | |
| An Indigenous elder has been barred from giving the welcome to country at a speaking event by the former US president Barack Obama after organisers told her she was being “too difficult”. | |
| Aunty Joy Murphy was scheduled to welcome Obama to Wurundjeri land before the event in Melbourne on Wednesday night on the latest leg of his speaking tour of Australia. | Aunty Joy Murphy was scheduled to welcome Obama to Wurundjeri land before the event in Melbourne on Wednesday night on the latest leg of his speaking tour of Australia. |
| But she was allegedly removed by the event’s organisers, Growth Faculty, after she asked them to provide a support person to help her at the event at John Cain Arena and also asked them to provide Obama with a gift in line with cultural practice. | But she was allegedly removed by the event’s organisers, Growth Faculty, after she asked them to provide a support person to help her at the event at John Cain Arena and also asked them to provide Obama with a gift in line with cultural practice. |
| In a statement, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation said: “She was told that she was being ‘too difficult’ and was removed from event proceedings. | |
| “This is a deep offence to the Wurundjeri people and to all First Nations people. | “This is a deep offence to the Wurundjeri people and to all First Nations people. |
| “Our Welcome to Country protocols are our traditional law and practice that have been used to welcome and offer protection to our guests on Wurundjeri lands for millennia.” | “Our Welcome to Country protocols are our traditional law and practice that have been used to welcome and offer protection to our guests on Wurundjeri lands for millennia.” |
| Aunty Joy, 78, who has welcomed dignitaries including Nelson Mandela and the Queen, said she was shocked at the way she had been treated. | |
| “They have always shown me respect and accepted my Welcome as a gift from our people,” Aunty Joy told the National Indigenous Times. “I have been shocked and distressed by the way I have been treated by event organisers. | |
| “I am 78 years of age. I have never been treated or spoken to in this way in the past. I do not want this to be a reflection on President Obama. I am a leader of the Wurundjeri Nation. I asked to be treated as an equal.” | “I am 78 years of age. I have never been treated or spoken to in this way in the past. I do not want this to be a reflection on President Obama. I am a leader of the Wurundjeri Nation. I asked to be treated as an equal.” |
| Growth Faculty has been contacted for comment. | Growth Faculty has been contacted for comment. |