DAN BOURCHIER, Host: Good morning to you, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney is here and I just want to acknowledge before we start our discussion that we're using the name of Uncle Archie Roach, his images, vision and also songs at the express permission of his family who want that to be a very much a part of his legacy of storytelling and dealing with difficult topics about the stolen generation and Indigenous disadvantage. But the Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, good morning. How do you reflect on this news?
LINDA BURNEY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: I was at the end of filming Q&A last night, and Stan Grant gave the audience the news. And there was just collective grief and sadness and wailing actually, within the audience, and people just holding each other and I think that what Archie Roach brought to Australia at a time when Australia was waking up to the Stolen Generations was remarkable. He was a storyteller. He was a truth teller. And he had the most amazing voice and he explored tough issues. Take the children away, walking into doors, those issues of truth that Uncle Archie brought to us all. And he's now reunited with Ruby. What an amazing couple. You can't think of one without the other. So we are all sad and grateful.
DAN BOURCHIER, Host: At an event just a couple of weeks ago where he performed and looked quite frail but saying with such strength so much heart and still reminding us to continue on this journey around healing, having difficult conversations I wonder if you have reflected upon what his impact has been on Australia.
LINDA BURNEY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Well, I think Archie's words are probably the best to describe that. His voice, his music, and his story came out of pain but was informed by hope. And that's such a wise and true thing about Uncle Archie's work and the fact that his death affects the whole country just says something. It says that he had a national profile. He did something with his music and his life story. He sang about his life. He was one of the children taken and he sings about coming back to Framlingham. And what he's given us is something that will live on forever.
DAN BOURCHIER, Host: His music, it strikes me and his writing, his autobiography and the storytelling. It did allow those of us that are members of the Stolen Generation to see the world through his eyes with that lens of pain of being ripped from your family. It strikes me that that's as important now as it's ever been.
LINDA BURNEY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Part of that song, was ripped from my mother’s heart and I came back. I think those two phrases are the things that I remember most from Took the Children Away. And you have to remember Dan that that the report came out in 1997, the late Sir Ronald Wilson and Mick Dodson launched that report in 1997. And it was the report that drew a line in the sand this country where people couldn't look away anymore. They couldn't say we didn't know. And that report on the Stolen Generations and the inquiry that led up to that report really spoke to us in Australia about the truth of the Aboriginal experience. And like I say, that report drew a line in the sand.
DAN BOURCHIER, Host: And it started more conversations more truth telling as we now actively call it and when we're having these big conversations. It also continued a conversation about how we deal with the intergenerational trauma.
LINDA BURNEY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Something that I've noticed, particularly in the last two years, is that intergenerational trauma is being recognised, both in the medical field but more broadly, and it’s being spoken about and it wasn't before, let me assure you, and you know, I just remind everyone, that the Uluru Statement talks about three things. It talks about an enshrined voice in the Constitution. But it also talks about the establishment of a Makarrata Commission that would have to jobs treaty and agreement making and also truth telling. And I suppose when I look back on my life, and the work that I've done in the educational arena, along with, so many others, not just me, but many others. It was in that pursuit of truth. And when we think about the effect the national truth telling process would have on Australia, it's remarkable. It's not about apportioning guilt, it's not about blame. It's about that we all can share in the whole story of this country. And really, that's what Uncle Archie spoke about and sang about. It was about truth.
DAN BOURCHIER, Host: Do we need a formal truth telling process now?
LINDA BURNEY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: I think that we do. And one of the things that we're thinking about at the moment is what form that would take, but I see this as, you know a thousand flowers blooming really. There are so many good examples. Probably the best example that I can think of is what has happened at Myall Creek in north western New South Wales, where those descendants of those that did the massacring and descendants of those that were massacred, have come together to create a memorial and a walking path that takes you through the story of Myall Creek. And what that has meant, for the Bingara shire has been healing and coming to terms with a terrible event of the past. And I see local government, I see, individuals, I see schools, I see universities, I see the media, I see so many parts of this country, deciding how they're going to explore the truth and it's happening already. I was at a school the other day and it was a school in the electorate of Barton and the students were 3-6 year olds and they did a Welcome to Country, or Acknowledgement of Country. And they were really wanting to understand the perspective that I had. And there is, there is just, this is happening right across schools in Australia. I have not been to a school in the last five years, where there hasn't been an Acknowledgement of Country to start the assembly, where the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags have not been flowing, flying sorry. So you know, truth is liberating. Truth grows a country up and that's what's happening.
DAN BOURCHIER, Host: We are almost out of time, but just briefly, can we expect a process on truth telling soon.
LINDA BURNEY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: I just am so thrilled with the Prime Minister's words yesterday. They have gone right across this country, perhaps across the world. And the Prime Minister was very clear that we will embrace and implement the Uluru Statement in full, we will not be rushed, we will do it in consultation. We will build consensus. And part of that is truth telling
DAN BOURCHIER, Host: When you say you won't be rushed you killed my next question of asking about a time frame, which I think that you've probably not, not have one right now but Linda Burney thank you so much for your time. And for your generosity with your insights about Uncle Archie at a time now when it is so fresh and so raw. I'm really grateful for that. Thank you so much.
LINDA BURNEY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Thanks Dan