Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The House understands that this week is NAIDOC Week. I particularly want to recognise your role, Mr Speaker, in making sure that the day was a success. I really appreciate that, as we all do. I want to particularly recognise the current chairs of the NAIDOC Committee nationally, Patricia Turner and John Paul Janke, but I also want to put very much on the record the enormous contribution of Dr Anne Martin and Ben Mitchell who are the past chairs of NAIDOC. I know Dr Martin spent 13 years in that position, and, through both Anne Martin and Ben Mitchell, we saw NAIDOC grow to be the amazing thing it is today, reaching across schools, local government areas, parliaments and all aspects of life. I want to particularly recognise their contribution. This year's theme, as we all know, is: 'Always Was, Always Will Be'. This is an interesting theme. Last year the theme was about recognition of women: 'Because of her, we can!' The theme this year was born out of the civil rights movement and aligned rights movement. The rest of that saying is: 'Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.'

I want to also say that NAIDOC is not a new thing in this nation. It has a long history. We saw that, in the 1920s, when Aboriginal rights groups boycotted Australia Day to protest against the status and poor treatment of Indigenous Australians. By the 1920s, the broader Australian public was clearly still largely ignorant of those boycotts. By Australia Day in 1938, the boycotts were finally noticed by the wider Australian public with thousands marching through the streets of Sydney. In the forties and fifties, a Day of Mourning became an annual event held on Sunday before Australia Day, and was known as Aborigines Day. In 1955, Aborigines Day was shifted to the first Sunday in July, which is what we now all celebrate. It became a day to also celebrate Aboriginal culture. In 1972, as an outcome of the 1967 referendum, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs was formed, and, in 1974, the NAIDOC Committee was composed entirely of Aboriginal members for the first time.

The National Aborigines Day Observance Committee was formed in the early 1990s, and the title was expanded to include Torres Strait Islanders. The National NAIDOC Committee made key decisions on national celebrations each year and has representatives in most Australian states and territories. NAIDOC is now recognised by all of us as something to bring this country together, and I couldn't be prouder of that. The theme this year is: 'Always Was, Always Will Be'. First Nations peoples always have been, and always will be, spiritually and culturally connected to land. They have also occupied and cared for the land for over 65,000 years. One of the things I like to say is that this 65,000 years of story, of history, is not just the culture of First Australians. It is the story of this country, and, therefore, it is the history and culture of all Australians, and that's what's so wonderful about the NAIDOC Committee.

I conclude my remarks today by saying that I am extremely proud and touched by the care towards today on both sides of parliament. I am disappointed with the outcome of the flag debate in the other chamber, but it is what it is. Of course, we'll continue to prosecute that. The fact is that, if you go down Commonwealth Avenue, there are hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. If you drive into Sydney airport, the flag flies there. If you drive past the New South Wales parliament, it flies outside. On occasion—not very often, but now and again—it actually flies off the Harbour Bridge. It is in front of schools; it is in front of the War Memorial. It is part of the Flags Act of Australia. As I said to 2GB this afternoon, flying the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag is not meant to be divisive; it is something that we can all celebrate and embrace.