Page 1884 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2016
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I seek to open the discussion with community and business about replacing one of the territory’s legislated public holidays, such as Family and Community Day or the Queen’s Birthday public holiday, to introduce a Reconciliation Day public holiday.
Reconciliation is about building better relationships between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for the benefit of all Australians. Now is an opportune time to intensify recognition of the importance of making progress to achieve reconciliation in Australia.
2016 marks 25 years of formal reconciliation in Australia, beginning with the establishment of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in 1991. It is also 15 years since Reconciliation Australia was formed and there have been 10 years of success for its national reconciliation action plan—RAP—program.
Next year will also mark 50 years since the 1967 referendum to allow Aboriginal people to be counted in the census and to remove a reference in the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Aboriginal people. Next year will also mark 25 years since the Mabo decision in 1992 which declared that terra nullius should not be applied to Australia.
We must continue to celebrate the achievements and the goodwill of the past 25 years. To create positive change we need more people talking about the issues and coming up with innovative ideas and actions that make a difference.
A key theme in achieving reconciliation and measuring progress towards reconciliation is unity. Unity in this context is understood as meaning where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and rights are valued and recognised as part of a shared national identity. Reconciliation is therefore not simply about improved services and economic independence; reconciliation promotes political unity, helping all of us to feel connected to tens of thousands of years of life and culture in this country.
To achieve reconciliation, we need to develop strong relationships built upon trust and respect that are free of racism, and opportunities for full participation in the life of the nation: everything from employment to identifying national symbols of which we can be proud. While it may not be possible to create direct person-to-person interaction for all Australians, there are many ways to learn more about each other. The latest State of reconciliation report found that most Australians support reconciliation and believe that political, business and community institutions should do more to advance reconciliation.
The ACT government is well advanced on its journey to reconciliation, seeking to work in partnership with all the diverse elements of the Canberra community to deliver its social inclusion and equality program. The central goal is to help every person reach their full potential as a member of our diverse, inclusive and creative community. This means implementing policies and practices that respond to poverty, deprivation and disadvantage, as well as cultural and systemic problems such as homophobia, sexism, racism and family violence.
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