Page 204 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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and open relationships with the people of Australia clearly sets the scene for truthful agreement-making and a way forward that starts to redress the balances of power and privilege. It is obvious that self-determination by Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders is required in setting the agenda for reconciliation and reparation.
We must get better at listening to our first nations peoples and letting them decide what and how things need to be done because it is obvious that strategies to date have simply failed to deliver. We must get better at examining our own racial or stereotypical prejudices. We must get better at understanding the impacts of colonisation, and we must get better at understanding that many of us, such as myself, still benefit from that colonisation today.
The reality is that sovereignty was never ceded, and we must genuinely accept that that is the case. Most importantly, any refresh strategy cannot be decided by governments alone. It is promising that the overhaul of the close the gap strategy includes plans to incorporate the perspective of Indigenous people through the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples. It is obvious that measures of success or progress for the Indigenous population must be defined by Indigenous people themselves. The lack of progress in closing the gap across a range of indicators suggests that a radical rethink is urgently needed to put resources and the power to direct them into Indigenous hands.
I note that the refresh of the closing the gap strategy is still underway and that there is an intention to establish a new formal partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by the end of February 2019. I look forward to hearing more about this in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, I acknowledge the good work of our own Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body and also look forward to the launch of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agreement 2019-28 next week. It is my hope that this agreement will bring about meaningful change and improvement in life outcomes for our local first nations people.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
The Assembly adjourned at 5.43 pm.
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