Ballumb Ambul Kabi Kabi (Gubbi Gubbi) yindamarra. Ngadu – yirra bang marang.
I have just said in Wiradjuri, the language of my people –
I pay my respects to the ancient Gubbi Gubbi people – and honour their custodianship and care for country.
I also pay my respects to the many senior people here tonight from across the Australian community.
There are so many old friends here today –
It’s good to see you.
I would also like to acknowledge:
- All the First Nations people here today
- (Ms) Pele Ware, Chair of the Queensland South Native Title Services
- Jodie Sizer, Chair of the AIATSIS Council
Craig Ritchie, CEO AIATSIS
- Blair Excell, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, representing NIAA
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It’s been a big week –
And a good week.
The significance of being sworn in as the first, First Nations woman in the Cabinet –
And the Minister for Indigenous Australians –
Is not lost on me.
But it is not about me.
It is about what the represents for Australia –
And the diverse Labor team that I am part of.
A Cabinet that includes 10 women – the most ever.
And a Labor Caucus that doubled the number of First Nations representatives at the last election.
There are now six First Nations Caucus members.
Malarndirri McCarthy and Marion Scrymjour from the Northern Territory, Patrick Dodson from Western Australia, and Jana Stewart from Victoria –
As well as Gordon Reid and myself from New South Wales.
Malarndirri McCarthy will be the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians and the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health.
And Patrick Dodson will be the Special Envoy for the Implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
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I’d like to begin today by acknowledging the legacy of Eddie Koiki Mabo.
It’s thirty years to the day since the High Court handed down its ruling and rendered terra nullius the fiction we always knew it was.
Because of the fight that Eddie and his family took up –
Because of the decade they spent in pursuit of justice over Mer Island –
The connection of First Nations peoples to Country is now recognised in the law, in practice, and in the community.
There are now over 240 Prescribed Bodies Corporate representing the interests of Native Title holders across Australia.
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As I am sure many of you know –
Former High Court Chief Justice Sir Gerard Brennan died this week.
Gerard Brennan wrote the lead judgement in the Mabo decision –
And was one of Australia’s greatest legal minds.
Last night I had the pleasure of being on the ABC Q&A panel –
With Gail Mabo, the daughter of Eddie.
And with Fr Frank Brennan, the son of Gerard.
It gives me great reassurance about the future –
To see both Gail and Frank are carrying forward that sprit of justice which drove both Eddie and Gerard.
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I know many in the room today know the Native Title Act 1993 inside-out –
An act introduced by the Keating Government in response to the Mabo decision.
Indeed, many of the country’s best Native Title experts are with us today.
Something buried in the preamble of that Act sticks out a little –
Especially today, where this conference has us all thinking about the things in the spaces in between.
The preamble of an Act is where lawmakers make their best attempt to explain, in simple English, the intention of the law.
It’s a bit like a time capsule.
It makes room for the important things –
Things that need to be said to understand the law, how it came into being, and how it should be interpreted.
The preamble to the Native Title Act say this:
The people of Australia intend […] to ensure that Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders receive the full recognition and status within the Australian nation to which history, their prior rights and interests, and their rich and diverse culture, fully entitle them to aspire.
You can draw a straight line from the High Court’s ruling and the passage of the Native Title Act to where we are today.
Because today we’re at the cusp –
There’s hard work ahead, yes –
But we’re closer than ever, to making good on that intention to ensure First Nations people receive full and proper recognition.
Because we now have a Government and a Prime Minister that is committed to delivering the Uluru Statement from the Heart –
In full.
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The Uluru Statement says:
In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard.
We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country.
We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.
And it has a simple plea for self-determination and change:
We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country.
When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish.
They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.
We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.
…
We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations –
And truth-telling about our history.
A constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament is not symbolism.
It will be a deeply practical step –
Providing advice about laws, policies and programs.
Holding government to account for programs and policies that work.
In the journey toward a referendum on an enshrined voice to Parliament –
We will all need to work together –
To build consensus, to compromise, and to reach out to those who we don’t always agree with.
And to explain – to the millions of Australians who have not thought deeply about this –
But whose vote will decide the referendum –
Why this is so important.
This isn’t something that I can do alone –
I need your support to make this next big change for Australia.
Because it will grow us up as a country.
And bring us together.
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Earlier this week I had the privilege of delivering the 2022 Lowitja O'Donoghue oration in Adelaide.
Lowitja is a giant – and someone from whom I have long drawn inspiration.
And I have a little piece of Lowitja with me today…
[hold up owl]
In that oration I said:
There is no one for whom supporting a referendum for a Voice to Parliament represents a bigger political opportunity than for Peter Dutton.
After a decade of divisive political discourse –
Of lifters and leaners, of those who have a go –
and by inference, those who don’t –
This is an opportunity for unity and for leadership.
And an opportunity for Peter Dutton to show his much-talked-about different side.
It’s also about being in the right side of history.
And Peter Dutton has in recent days reflected on what it is like to be in the wrong side of history –
after walking out on the apology to the stolen generations.
But we all grow, and we all change.
And there is no shame in that at all.
In fact, that is what the journey of reconciliation is all about.
And it is a path I would be very pleased to walk with Peter Dutton –
and the Liberal Party.
The Nationals and the Greens Political Party also have important decisions to make –
About putting the national interest ahead of narrow political ambition.
I will be working across the Parliament to bring people together and build consensus –
Because a Voice to Parliament isn’t about party politics.
It isn’t an idea that belongs to one side or the other.
It is the right thing to do for Australia.
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Labor’s agenda in the First Nations space extends beyond the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
But also turning the tide on incarceration through justice re-investment –
Re-starting investment in housing and services in the Northern Territory homelands –
places of great cultural significance.
Scrapping the punitive and ineffective Community Development Program –
And replacing it with real jobs, real wages, proper conditions and more community control.
Picking up where the old CDEP left off.
Making income management voluntary for individuals or communities.
Doubling Indigenous rangers –
and delivering cultural water in the Murray-Darling basin.
As well as working ambitiously with business, and in the public sector –
to lift First Nations employment.
And making First Nations Australia part of the way we engage with the world, through the appointment of an ambassador.
As well as continuing to work with the Coalition of the Peaks on Closing the Gap –
And lifting the ambitions for our people.
We will invest in upgrading First Nations health infrastructure across the country –
Including renal services in the city and the bush –
And doubling funding for Rheumatic Heart Disease.
Because in a country like Australia, people should not doe from a disease of poverty.
We will work with Aboriginal Controlled Health Services to train 500 extra First Nations health workers.
And invest in First Nations language teachers – to keep our stories alive.
And we will ensure governments everywhere are working together to build the capacity of Prescribed Bodies Corporate –
To support true self-determination.
So much for a small target!
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Today, I also want to acknowledge the work of my friend Ken Wyatt.
I have known Ken for over 40 years.
And in recent days he has offered me gracious encouragement –
And that means a lot.
In the last Parliament I was very pleased to be able to support Ken to deliver on some important changes for our people –
Getting an agreement with Harold Thomas for public use of the Aboriginal Flag –
And freeing it from commercial control.
Establishing a Commonwealth stolen generations redress scheme –
Something so many have been advocating for over the years.
And working with you towards the Ngurra Cultural Precinct in Canberra.
While I was disappointed that the previous Government prevented the Voice co-design process from considering constitutional change –
I will be carefully considering the work of the co-design group moving forward.
And I very much welcome Ken’s comments in recent days –
That he would support a Voice in the constitution.
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And I am so excited about working with all of you over the next three years.
Excited about self-determination.
Excited about what we can achieve together.
And in the journey toward a Voice in the Constitution –
I need your support, your advocacy, and your effort.
Because success comes when we all work together.
And when we stand on the shoulders of the great advocates of justice that have come before us –
People like Eddie Mabo.