Page 2475 - Week 07 - Thursday, 3 August 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I am also engaged, and look forward to continuing to be engaged, in the national conversation in relation to some of the main things that this motion touches on—the Uluru statement from the heart and the report of the Referendum Council. As the foreword from the co-chairs of the Referendum Council states:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have long struggled for constitutional recognition. As far back as Yorta Yorta elder William Cooper’s letter to King George VI (1937), the Yirrkala Bark Petitions (1963), the Larrakia Petition (1972) and the Barunga Statement (1988), First Peoples have sought a fair place in our country.
The ACT government has a strong record of working with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to try to find that fair place. This year, and going forward, we have an opportunity to work with them both locally and nationally for the recognition that they deserve. I would like to thank Minister Rattenbury for the eloquence with which he has spoken on this topic. As the Uluru statement from the heart says:
In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard.
The ACT government wants to ensure that the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our community are indeed heard.
At the roundtable for ministers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs that I attended in June, in Western Australia, I was able to discuss with my colleagues the work of the elected body here in the ACT and how the elected body works with the ACT government in the development of our service provision, providing advice to me as minister and also their monitoring role through the hearing process. This representative model was seen by other states and territories as a benchmark that they should look to and learn from.
One of the other topics we discussed was the work of Victoria and South Australia to commence treaty discussions with the local Aboriginal people in their respective states. A treaty may be outcomes based and can contain statements of principle, guidelines for future relationships, reparations for past injustices and guarantees about individual land, sovereignty and identity. Consistent with the right to self-determination, it is the Aboriginal communities who need to decide who will negotiate a treaty and how Aboriginal people will be represented in any treaty-making process. This is something I am looking at, regarding what we can do here in the ACT, both locally and to support national work.
Pursuant to this motion, the government is happy to write to the Prime Minister and the commonwealth minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs to express the Assembly’s support for continuing and prioritising the national conversation about reconciliation and constitutional reform with First Australians. I look forward to working with all parties to pursue equitable outcomes for members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community here in the ACT, including, as Mr Milligan noted, through the review of overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video