As 2021 draws to a close, it is timely to pause and reflect on the progress towards reconciliation we have made as a nation.
In Reconciliation Australia’s 2021 State of Reconciliation in Australia report, chief executive Karen Mundine highlighted the need for not just words, but actions that result in significant change.
“Reconciliation cannot just be about raising awareness and knowledge. The skills and knowledge gained should motivate us to ‘braver’ action. For reconciliation to be effective, it must involve truth-telling, and actively address issues of inequality, systemic racism and instances where the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are ignored, denied or reduced. That is, we need to move more of our effort from focussing on the preconditions for reconciliation, to focussing on more substantive change.”
The theme of the State of Reconciliation Report — Moving from Safe to Brave — underscores the need for Australia as a nation to step up, to take real meaningful action.
Given there is now almost universal belief that the relationship between First Peoples and other Australians is important, the report “recognises that the reconciliation movement is at a tipping point, where we as a nation need to move from ‘safe’ to ‘brave’ in order to realise the promise of reconciliation.”
Local government — as the level of government that is closest to communities — is recognised as a key influencer in driving significant and lasting change in this area.
There are numerous examples of councils across Australia having a real impact by consulting with their communities, considering what they can do and acting on this.
Locally, Greater Shepparton City Council is working on its next Reconciliation Action Plan.
Here is an opportunity to move from ‘safe to brave’.
You can have input into how the next plan will be shaped.
Let council know what you think is important to achieving reconciliation locally.
Be part of this process — be brave.
Sometimes the steps towards reconciliation can seem small but can be deeply significant.
One such step was the 2021 Survival Day Dawn ceremony, held on January 26 at 6am in Kaieltheban Park, Mooroopna.
Organised by local Aboriginal community members, it was a moving and humbling event and a first for Shepparton.
It was also a brave and generous invitation to be part of local change.
No longer was it necessary to travel to Melbourne to participate in activities that acknowledge the significance of this day for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
On the state level in Victoria, work towards Treaty continues.
The establishment in May this year, of the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission — the first truth-telling body in Australia — is part of the Treaty process.
Its main functions are to establish an official record of the impact of colonisation on First Peoples in Victoria using First People’s stories and to make detailed recommendations about practical actions and reforms needed in Victoria.
It is an historic opportunity for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Victoria finally to begin to listen to each other and create a new heritage together.
To be brave, to listen.
As Troy McDonald, Gunai Kurnai Land and Waters Corporation Reserved Seat holder on the First Peoples’ Assembly, noted in the Tyerri Yoo-rrook (Seed of Truth) Report to the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission from the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, “If the truth is told, it can only lead to a better version of Australia based on honest relationships and a knowledge of actual events.”
This view is reflected nationally in Reconciliation Australia’s 2020 Australian Reconciliation Barometer.
Three years after the Uluru Statement from the Heart, this need to truthfully tell and accept Australia’s history was overwhelmingly endorsed in the 2020 ARB with 93 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and 89 per cent of Australians in the general community supporting formal truth-telling processes in relation to Australia’s shared history.
However, there is a level of frustration that on a national level, community views are well ahead of those of politicians.
The 2020 ARB showed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and Australians in the general community, believe more must be done by government departments to close the gap in health, justice, education and employment
As the 2021 State of Reconciliation in Australia Report notes: “The anger and exasperation at the government’s rejection of the Uluru Statement from the Heart was a constant theme in the interview of stakeholders ... Many of the stakeholders interviewed look to the lack of progress in relation to the Uluru Statement from the Heart as an indicator that Parliament is not keeping up with the broader community in progressing reconciliation.”
The release, last Friday, of the Federal Government’s final report on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament still leaves uncertainty about its status as a legislated or constitutionally enshrined body as called for in the Uluru Statement.
This is despite 88 per cent of submissions to the Senior Advisory Group tasked with developing the report, expressly supporting enshrinement.
In commenting on the legal status of the Voice, the co-chairs of the Senior Advisory Group — Professor Dr Marcia Langton AO and Professor Tom Calma AO, — said “While consideration of legal form was outside our co-design responsibility, we were not surprised by the growing support for constitutional enshrinement that was particularly evident in submissions.”
They noted the arguments that constitutional enshrinement would protect the Voice against abolition, “enhance its effectiveness and recognise the unique place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our nation”.
When speaking about the Indigenous Voice Co-design Process Final Report to the Federal Government, advocate for the Uluru Statement from the Heart and Larrakia man Thomas Mayor said “It's a great step towards a referendum — a referendum that we can win."
As Australians we can be brave.
We can let our parliamentarians know how it important it is that the call for a Voice in the Uluru Statement, be heard and acted on.
And then we can all be brave by talking about the importance of this step for our nation with our families, friends, work colleagues and acquaintances.
And finally, as a nation, we all need to be brave to ensure the Voice to Parliament passes at referendum.