Page 2468 - Week 07 - Thursday, 3 August 2017
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Jump forward to 2015, when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders delivered the Kirribilli statement following a meeting with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. This statement calls for substantive changes to the Australian Constitution to lay the foundations for the fair treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples into the future. The statement notes that constitutional recognition is only part of the solution, and it must be accompanied by other measures to address the historic and ongoing disadvantage that has resulted from past mistreatment.
Throughout this history of protest and advocacy there is a familiar echo, and we hear it again in the Uluru statement from the heart delivered at the National Constitutional Convention this year. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to feel powerless in our democracy. The statement tells us that their voices are not being heard and that this can only be addressed through substantive constitutional change and structural reform.
It has taken us too long to learn the lessons of our history, to listen to the voices of Indigenous Australians. Now we are presented with an opportunity to embark on a process of agreement-making and truth-telling that will allow us to walk forward together. While it is not the responsibility of this place to start a national conversation, we can and must lend our support to the process, because grassroots participation and support will drive this forward. Today’s motion seeks to express a hope that this will be a priority for our country, not just another lost opportunity as has happened so many times before.
It is also important to recognise that a key part of the Uluru statement was that it spoke directly to the Australian people. It was not a statement directed only to the Prime Minister and those in federal parliament. It reinforced the notion that each of us can actively engage with this message, listen to the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and participate in this journey.
As is mentioned in the Uluru statement, the process of truth-telling will be central to any reconciliation process with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Our history includes some dark periods which have never been properly acknowledged. So I will take this opportunity to put some fundamental facts on the record today.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands and possessed it under their own laws and customs. The sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over these lands has never been ceded or extinguished and coexists with the sovereignty of the Crown. Settler massacres of first peoples were widespread across the colonial frontier. Between 1794 and 1872 there were least 150 recorded massacres in eastern Australia. It would appear that almost every clan was affected. The disadvantage suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today is associated with both historical and contemporary racism, colonisation and oppression.
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