Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Financial Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Talk with us, not to us.' That's been the request of the First Australians in dealing with government concerning social policy, reconciliation and constitutional recognition for many years. 'Talk with us, not to us.' Yet, on the first big opportunity that the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government had to respect this request from First Nations Australians, this government failed dismally. The First Nations National Constitutional Convention in 2017 saw Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people come together from all over Australia over four days to produce the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The Statement from the Heart represented First Nations Australians speaking with one voice in unity about being listened to and respected by non-Indigenous Australians and government about their future and recognising and paying respect to their unique culture and heritage. This was a historic moment in Australia's history.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart is a statement for all Australians and something that we should be proud of. It speaks of pride and spirituality in First Nations people's connection with this land, this continent, for more than 60,000 years. It talks of the crisis of modern First Nations people—the shockingly high rates of incarceration, particularly of young men; the alienation of children from their families; the detention of youth, powerfully described as 'the torment of our powerlessness'.

Then there is the request for respect, the request for Australians to listen, to seek constitutional reform to empower First Australians to take their rightful place in their own country through the establishment of a First Nations voice in the Constitution, through a makarrata commission to oversee truth-telling about Australia's history and colonisation and to supervise agreement-making with Australian governments. Unfortunately this historic document, this cry for respect from a united Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, was dismissed by the Turnbull government and dismissed out of hand—in my view, a show of disrespect to our First Australians.

Australians, as a nation of people, can lay claim to a feat that no other nation of citizens can lay claim to throughout the world, and that is that we have the longest continuing culture in the world through our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people—scientifically and anthropologically proven to connect First Australians with this land for over 60,000 years. That is a history and heritage that we should be immensely proud of. That is an achievement that should be celebrated, respected and recognised in our nation's founding document, our most important document—our Constitution. But, sadly, it is not. In fact, if you read a copy of the Australian Constitution, you could be forgiven for believing that Australian history began with British colonisation. Our founding document—our Constitution—does not tell the truth about Australia. It doesn't tell the truth about our history. It makes our history incomplete. Our founding document should reflect our true history, our culture and our values. It should exhibit our respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their heritage and their culture. It does not, and that must change.

Just as the Apology to the Stolen Generations was the most important step in healing what government had done in removing children unjustifiably from their mothers and fathers, so too is constitutional recognition the most important gesture in the empowerment of our First Australians and ensuring that they can live rewarding and fulfilling lives with living standards equivalent to other Australians. It represents Australian people coming together through education, through consultation and through democracy by us voting to amend our Constitution to finally recognise our history and our true culture—that of the First Australians and their connection with the land—to amend our founding document to celebrate the history and the achievement of our First Australians; to finally tell the truth; and to say to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 'We hear you, we understand you, we recognise your culture and we respect you.'

It is such a shame and such a disappointment that the Turnbull and Morrison governments have rejected the Uluru Statement from the Heart and shown such disrespect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their ambitions. In October last year, Labor acknowledged the government's announcement of a co-design process for a legislated First Nations voice to parliament. We will engage in this process collaboratively, but bipartisanship or agreement across the parliament cannot become a race to the bottom. It has to be ambitious and it has to listen to First Australians and the wider Australian community. Labor fully embraces the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The statement outlined the reasonable and modest desires of First Nations people for a constitutionally enshrined First Nations voice to parliament, a makarrata commission to supervise the process of agreement-making, and a national process for truth-telling.

It is crucial that First Australians people have a say in their future and in policies, laws and decisions that affect them, and Labor remains committed to realising the desires of First Nations people, as outlined by First Nations people in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Labor's priority for constitutional reform remains, recognising the First Australians in our Constitution and a voice to parliament, and it's vital that First Nations people's views and wishes are properly and comprehensively understood in this process. We acknowledge the appointment of Tom Calma and Marcia Langton to lead the senior advisory group, and we encourage all Australians—all First Nations communities and leaders—to participate and ensure that an important diversity of views is heard and understood. This is a process that Australia has a unique opportunity, in time, to get right: to finally recognise the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture, and the contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have made to our nation. It's too important for us to dismiss this process out of hand. That's why Labor takes this process very seriously and calls on the government to do the same.

First Nations peoples and the broader community understand the need for the voice to have security and, therefore, protection in the Constitution. For too long, our founding document has not reflected Australia's true history. It's time for us to rectify that wrong and to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people—the First Australians—are recognised in our founding document, in our Constitution, and that we pay them the respect that they deserve.