Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for attending this speech, all those that are gathered to hear it. I begin this contribution by acknowledging the traditional owners of where we are and the Yuggera people in my electorate of Moreton, and thank them for their strong and continuing stewardship.

A lot has and will be written about the referendum results and the campaign over the weekend. There'll be talk about the role of misinformation, about the role of social media and about the day-to-day issues that diverted the voting public from turning their minds to a very simple proposition—recognition and a parliamentary advisory group. There'll be commentary on what this result means in terms of a way going forward for this nation and how we deal with other issues that require changes to our Constitution but also on the implications for how to deal with and resolve the issues between the settlers and our original custodians who have cherished and cared for this country for over 65,000 years.

Obviously, there is much more work to be done. But this isn't what I wanted to talk about today, despite the necessity of mentioning the referendum. I wanted to talk about the people, especially in my electorate of Moreton, who accepted the invitation so graciously outlined in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Noel Pearson visited my electorate, one of the 129 forums he spoke at since July—what a legend. Noel Pearson said, 'We are only three per cent of the population. We can't do this on our own. We need the 97 per cent of you to come with us.' And you know what? They did. So many people that made up the 49.13 per cent in Moreton, across my electorate and elsewhere, responded to Noel Pearson's words—people who believed our nation could do better.

In my electorate, as was replicated across the country, people who came from different political parties or who had no political affiliations, came together because they believed and shared in the values of helping others. Most had never, ever experienced a campaign before. Their positivity and passion for improving the lives of Indigenous Australians should be an inspiration to many. There are people like Uncle Bob Anderson, a proud Ngugi elder from Mulgumpin, in Quandamooka, who, at 93, has spent his whole life advocating for workers and for Aboriginal rights. Uncle Bob, you are a legend, and I'm honoured to call you friend. Uncle Bob came to every single forum that we held—this is a 93-year-old—and performed the acknowledgement of country. He handed out at prepoll and on election day, and even had to endure some horrible insults from those handing out for the 'no' campaign.

Then there is Aunty Kathy, who distributed numerous 'yes' flyers throughout her community in Acacia Ridge, and gave a number aunties their 'yes' t-shirts so that they could show their support when they came into the Acacia Ridge polling booth on Saturday. Thank you, Aunty Kathy, and all the other aunties who did so.

Thank you, Marg, who, at 85 years of age, had never doorknocked in her life, but in Acacia Ridge she went doorknocking. She went doorknocking with me, as well, in Annerley. In Acacia Ridge, when she was warned about the real big dogs of Acacia Ridge—these are not the kinds of dogs that you fit into a handbag; these are watchdogs—she would open gates fearlessly, give them a bit of a rattle, regardless of if there were real dogs there or not. That as an 85-year-old. After she'd conquered Acacia Ridge, Marg asked for a map and material so she could doorknock her own neighbourhood all by herself. I just wish I was as committed, selfless and fearless as Marg, Uncle Bob and the others.

Good people came out of nowhere when you least expected it. Michele coordinated all the early morning train stations and found more volunteers each time she did so. I want to thank our local volunteers standing in solidarity with First Nations people and accepting the very simple request made of them: recognition and an advisory body—an advisory body that would have let communities talk directly to government about issues like child protection and the health of First Nations children.

I do note that when the coalition came to government back in 2013, they cut $534 million from Indigenous child safety, Indigenous health and Indigenous legal aid—cuts that permeated First Nations communities for a decade thereafter. How many child protection workers couldn't do their job because of those cuts? Funnily, the member for Dickson apparently cares now, when he doesn't have a cabinet say on budgets. Those cuts hurt children. Talk now is cheap, obviously. Actions speak much louder than words. As the honourable Linda Burney said, 'We can be emancipated by truth-telling as a nation'. I look forward to the process, and, in fact, I wrote about it in the book called The Long Story, recently. I'm very hopeful of reconciliation, where two out of five people said, 'Yes, people can change their minds over time and with better education.' I look forward to that process.