Page 3864 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 30 November 2021
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historical acceptance. These dimensions mirror those of Reconciliation Australia and are an agreed path forward on a shared journey of reconciliation. I understand that most, if not all, ACT government directorates have similar reconciliation action plans in place.
The ACT remains Australia’s only jurisdiction to recognise Reconciliation Day, first celebrated here in 2018, and marked with a public holiday coinciding with National Reconciliation Week. It is an opportunity for all Canberrans to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. At the heart of our reconciliation journey, as individuals, families, communities, organisations and a nation, are the relationships that we collectively build and the value that we place on recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, cultures and futures.
To me, reconciliation is all of this. It is recognition, it is respect, it is acknowledgement and it is celebration. I believe that, by enabling greater recognition in public place names across the ACT, we will contribute to reconciliation with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. We will do this by bringing greater attention and focus to the contributions of people in Australia who have furthered the cause of reconciliation and to their plight and purposes.
We do already have two ACT suburbs which recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ important place in Australia’s history. Bonner is named after Senator Neville Bonner AO, who was the first Indigenous person to enter federal parliament, as a Liberal senator for Queensland in 1971. Also, Nicholls is named after Sir Douglas Nicholls, a prominent Aboriginal man from the Yorta Yorta people.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture more broadly is reflected in the language of many other names of ACT suburbs and streets, including my home suburb of Waramanga, derived from the cultural and language group name of the Warumungu people from the Tennant Creek district in the Northern Territory. In Waramanga, every street is named after different Aboriginal tribal groups from around Australia.
While we already clearly have a great history of naming public places in the ACT in recognition of important Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and people, the legislative change I am proposing will do more than just validate what is already done. It will send a clear signal, a clear commitment from this Assembly, that we honour reconciliation and, in parallel, that we denounce the negative connotations of colonisation and actions of colonisation and the injustices it incites for too many people in this community.
During the development of this amendment, I engaged closely with the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body, who have provided their full support. I wish to thank members of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body, in particular the members who are here today, together with the members of the United Ngunnawal Elders Council and the Healing Foundation for their ongoing commitment and dedication towards causes relevant to reconciliation and furthering the opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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