Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's with great pleasure that I speak to the constitutional recognition report. As a member of Labor's First Nations caucus committee, I have been privileged to work through it and to attend some of the very important hearings, including the one at Barunga that many of the speakers before me have referred to. I congratulate both of the co-chairs of this report. It was a great privilege to be at Barunga, in particular with the opposition leader Bill Shorten and the land councils. In particular, I want to point out the speech that Senator Patrick Dodson gave at that event. It was truly a remarkable speech. You got some sense of the passion from the audience, their complexities of making this pathway through these important issues for our nation.

The co-chair Julian Leeser, the member for Berowra, is to be congratulated. We're going to need the current government into the future, whatever future that may be. I was very pleased to read that, in his speech, he paid tribute to Senator Dodson. I also think that it's worth quoting that speech. Because he had his son in the gallery for the first time, the member for Berowra said that:

I hope that, when he looks back on whatever his father achieves in this place, he will be proud of the efforts his dad made towards constitutional recognition of and reconciliation with our First Nations peoples. This remains one of Australia's great national goals.

In a very genuine and sincere way, I want to share the member for Berowra's hopes for the future in a bipartisan way, because it is important. No one party can do this together. Leadership is required, and I think leadership is being shown with this report. It maps out a path, including co-design, that is going to be essential for us to arrive at a place where the government is working through a process, through the co-design, led by the First Nations peoples of our country. Of course, the voice that quite unexpectedly came out of the First Nations leaders' meeting at Uluru a couple of years ago is now our challenge—to work together as a parliament and for this and future federal governments to work through a process of legislating once that co-design has been done.

We want to have a process continue, now that this report is done, that is free from any scaremongering of the past. Let's leave that well behind us. The member for Moreton referred to the scaremongering around a third chamber. It was blatantly untrue and being used purely for scaremongering. For those who might seek to derail this important project for our country: yes, the temptation will continue to be there for you to derail it. But I would simply say, in a spirit of bipartisanship for what is good for our country, that we cannot afford those straw man arguments and those negative campaigns of the past to derail this, because it is too important for our country.

This report is part of a process that is continuing. There is more work to be done. I think we all recognise that these important issues of constitutional entrenchment and a referendum will require real leadership—leadership such as that shown by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with the apology. That leadership needs to continue into the future so that First Nations people have a voice and there is an acknowledgement of truth.

The Statement from the Heart that the First Nations leaders at Uluru came up with threw a big challenge our way, and I think this report is an important step towards us rising to that challenge. Hopefully, the spirit of partnership can continue so that there is some truth-telling, which I think is really important because, on a fundamental level, our nation needs to continue to build the ethical infrastructure of our nation by coming to the truth. There may be some who will say that Australia can't handle the truth, but I think that is very wrong. I think our country is up for that two-way learning.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:11 to 12:30

When the First Nations leaders met at Uluru, they called for a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament. That's what we, the current opposition, support. I want to again acknowledge the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. I had the great honour of going to Barunga for the hearing that was held there, which involved the land councils, many members of the First Nations communities from the Northern Territory, Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten, and the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Michael Gunner. It was a privilege to be there. As I mentioned earlier, it was a privilege to hear Senator Dodson speak in that environment and also to have the member for Berowra, the co-chair of this committee, there to witness that and, with the other members of that committee, to hear the testimony, to answer questions, to listen. It was a great privilege, and I look forward to working with the First Nations caucus committee as part of the Labor team, and also working in any way possible with those opposite to make sure that we keep this very important set of challenges or opportunities for our country heading in the right direction.

We don't want to see any more scaremongering about a third chamber, as I have mentioned earlier. It's unfortunate that that has been part of our history, whether it be about the apology or whether it be scaremongering about the third chamber. I think we can all look past that now and really look forward to this as an opportunity to heal our nation and tell the truth about our history, because we will all be so much richer for it. It's very important. I am given confidence by the member for Berowra and his approach to this important issue.

Debate adjourned.