Page 1396 - Week 04 - Thursday, 4 April 2019
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As my colleague Mr Rattenbury said we do not accept cigarette or alcohol company sponsorship of hospital wards or ambulances and it is inappropriate for weapons makers to sponsor our national war memorial.
The War Memorial should be what Mr Hanson suggested it should be: a place of genuine commemoration, genuine reflection as to why war was necessary and what happened, and somewhere we can learn. It is not compatible with this to have vested interests in warfare advertising in this location. Funding from weapons companies should cease. The Greens have obviously supported this for years and we will continue to advocate for a city free from arms promotions advertised in public places, in particular houses of remembrance.
As I said earlier we support the important role of national institutions for telling our history. One of the most important places we would like to see change is in respect to our Indigenous history. We recently put a submission to the national institutions review that until the Australian constitution contains a clause that gives Aboriginal people of our first nations respect and recognition towards a formal treaty the Greens believe it would be appropriate for the Aboriginal tent embassy to be given standing as an interim national institution.
The Aboriginal tent embassy is a national institution and as such the Greens believe it would be appropriate for the National Capital Authority to formally offer ongoing support to the embassy through regular provision of water, toilets, bathroom facilities and waste collection. Now that the building that formerly hosted The Lobby restaurant is vacant the ACT Greens suggest that the NCA consider how this could be used to support the tent embassy and to promote Indigenous culture and history. The tent embassy is a crucial piece of Australia's cultural heritage and is a national institution regardless of whether it is formally recognised as such.
Another issue with the War Memorial is that it still does not have a monument to fallen Aboriginal warriors and those who died protecting their culture and country in the frontier wars. The Guardian Australia has recently provided a long form series of articles and interactive maps of these conflicts, and it is incredibly sobering and depressing reading. It is titled, “The Killing Times—the massacres of Aboriginal people Australia must confront.” It is a record of state-sanctioned slaughter. As a nation we need to find ways to acknowledge these events, to face them and to provide a home for these generational memories and scars.
As my colleague Mr Rattenbury said and as all speakers have said, our national institutions play an essential role in our society. They have a truth-telling commemoration role. They tell the stories that shape who we are, what we value and what our place is in the world and we should and must maintain this for us and future generations.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH (Kurrajong—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Disability, Minister for Children, Youth and Families, Minister for Employment and Workplace Safety, Minister for Government Services and Procurement, Minister for Urban Renewal) (4.08): I thank Mr Rattenbury for bringing forward this motion and for providing the opportunity for us to discuss the
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