Page 2809 - Week 08 - Thursday, 11 August 2016
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(d) the significant opportunity to progress the work of reconciliation in the ACT presented by the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 referendum and the 25th Anniversary of the Mabo Ruling in 2017; and
(2) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) work with the ACT community to establish a Reconciliation Day to commence in 2018; and
(b) mark the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 referendum and 25th Anniversary of the Mabo Ruling with significant public events.
As members would be aware, earlier this week I tabled the outcomes report from the recent public consultation process on my proposal to establish a Reconciliation Day public holiday. I was also pleased to inform members that the outcomes report found that people who participated in the consultation process overwhelmingly support the proposal to establish a Reconciliation Day public holiday for the ACT.
In June 2016 I announced that the ACT government would start a discussion with the Canberra community on a proposal to commemorate reconciliation with a public holiday. Since June, in response to my proposal a total of 94 written submissions have been received, 150 people responded to an online survey and 25 participants attended community forums to discuss the proposal.
The outcome of this community consultation process was clear: the majority of community members support establishing a Reconciliation Day public holiday. I now seek the approval of members to call upon the ACT government to work with the Canberra community to establish a Reconciliation Day in 2018.
Most of the engagement activities during the consultation process addressed the core questions of whether the Canberra community supported the proposed Reconciliation Day public holiday and when a Reconciliation Day public holiday should be held. Whilst there was no consensus on a preferred date in the focus groups or the interviews it was generally agreed that the day needed to have a strong link that is something culturally or historically significant. Participants at the focus groups emphasised the need to get it right and to not rush things, noting that it was important that the day be on the right date at the right time and with the right name.
I believe that reconciliation is about building a better relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australians and I believe that the ACTÂ government working with the Canberra community to establish a Reconciliation Day for 2018 would be a valuable opportunity to assist this work.
When I first came into this Assembly after my election in, coincidentally, Reconciliation Week 2011, I made reconciliation a key theme in my inaugural speech. I said then that reconciliation is about nation building, that the history of our nation is marked by achievements of which we can be proud but there are other events that we wish had been done differently or not at all.
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