Page 3070 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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I note in the budget the investment of $10,000 for stage 2 of the conservation management plan for Aboriginal places in the better infrastructure fund. I am not exactly clear what these funds will be spent on. But I imagine it is things like repairing signs or putting up fences around significant heritage items such as scarred trees.
This leads me to the items that are related to Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in the parliamentary agreement. The first is continuing funding support for dedicated culture and language programs in schools and in after-school programs, about which I know questions were asked during the estimates hearings. The Greens are pleased that Belconnen High School is developing and implementing such a program and that the board of senior secondary study is also developing an Aboriginal language and culture course under the humanities and social sciences framework.
It is a difficult thing for the ACT government to actually ensure that such programs are being rolled out across all of the schools, due to the level of autonomy that ACT government schools have. In keeping with the parliamentary agreement item 8.1, I would recommend that more schools get involved with Aboriginal culture and language programs, particularly as this is the International Year of Indigenous Languages. It is a good time to be focusing on this discussion.
The second item that is touched on in the parliamentary agreement is ensuring that cultural connections are considered in planning and heritage assessments. That was also discussed in the estimates process and the Greens reiterate our commitment to listening to and supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this regard. We believe that systems can be strengthened and that accountability is needed to ensure that such cultural connections are preserved, not just for this generation but for generations into the future.
We certainly support the government’s efforts regarding Reconciliation Day and the reconciliation grants to assist with promoting, understanding and celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and we believe that these are tangible steps towards true reconciliation that promote understanding and connection between cultures in our community.
We believe that sovereignty was never ceded and that Australia has unfinished business. In the absence of a national treaty with Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia, we should proceed as a territory to encourage truth telling as a path to justice and healing and in order to advance true reconciliation. We must formalise and recognise that government policies and practices need to respect the right of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to self-determination, the improvement of their social and economic conditions, to participate in decisions that affect them and to freely determine their development policies.
We are pleased to support this element of the budget, clear in the knowledge that there is much more work yet to be done.
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