Page 2810 - Week 08 - Thursday, 11 August 2016
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The impact on Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders since 1788 has been profound. Invasion, violence, dispossession, dispersal, discrimination and racism have smashed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Of course, there was resistance and resilience but the intergenerational trauma is deeply affecting and lies at the heart of contemporary disadvantage creating the gap that we struggle to close. For non-Indigenous Australians, reconciliation is the opportunity not just to move beyond the shame and embarrassments of our history but to write a better Australian story and also to reach into that 40,000 years of this country’s history and culture and say, “That is what it is to be an Australian.”
Reconciliation Day will also keep reconciliation in the public conversation and celebrate the ongoing contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, history and connection to country. As one respondent to the consultation process noted, trialling of a Reconciliation Day public holiday would be a great vehicle to raise awareness of how much we all value reconciliation and would build understanding. Reconciliation needs to be seen as a journey that has a clear destination, one that can strengthen momentum each year. This holiday can be a celebration of what we have achieved as well as recognition of what we still want to do. It should not be talked about as a destination that we have arrived at and so it stops; we need to reflect as a community on what has been, where we are and where we want to be.
Following this consultation process with the Canberra community I seek the support of my fellow members of this place to call on the ACT government to transform this community feedback into reality. I firmly maintain that establishing a Reconciliation Day public holiday will be a concrete demonstration of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agreement statement of commitment to reconciliation and wellbeing which commits all parties to recognising the ongoing effects of transgenerational trauma caused by past government policies and supporting the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
Celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural identity is a key focus of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agreement and there are many ways that Canberrans could celebrate the oldest living culture in the world on Reconciliation Day. Indeed, now is the perfect time for all Canberrans to reach into that history and say it is part of who they are as Australians, to renew our effort for reconciliation and recognise the ongoing contributions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans make to the life of this city and this region.
Next year, 2017 will be a significant year in terms of reconciliation. 27 May 2017 will mark 50 years since the 1967 referendum to allow Aboriginal people to be counted in the census and the removal of a reference in the Australian constitution that discriminated against Aboriginal people. Whilst this was a detailed referendum it is best remembered for the overwhelming support of all Australians: 90.7 per cent of Australians voting yes for a better deal for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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