Page 1287 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020

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The timing of all these events, and others such as the impact of COVID-19, which is, again, disproportionate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and the unnecessary destruction of Juukan Gorge in Western Australia has resulted in a challenging Reconciliation Week for many. But there have been positives. Hundreds, thousands, of Canberrans still marked Reconciliation Day with pledge cards, sharing culture and learning and stories and histories on ABC Canberra. People got down to Lake Burley Griffin—as I did, and I know that the shadow minister did as well—to see the National Carillon lit up with local Ngunnawal art and language, with the hands from ANTaR that really symbolise reconciliation.

I speak tonight with a heavy heart, a heavy heart at what is going on in what I have considered my second home in Washington DC and a heavy heart when I think about how much work we still have to do here to achieve true truth telling and true reconciliation in our nation. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and the ACT government and the labour movement are resolutely committed to advancing the Uluru statement from the heart—voice, treaty and truth. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but what we know from this week is that Canberrans are with us on that journey. We are in this together, and Canberrans consistently demonstrate that we want to be part of the journey of reconciliation. For that, I thank them.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

The Assembly adjourned at 5.29 pm until Tuesday, 18 June 2020, at 10 am.

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