Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to read out a Raise Our Voice speech by 16-year-old Emma, who lives in Bemboka in my electorate of Eden-Monaro. The question that they were asked to respond to was, 'What steps should the government take today to build a better tomorrow for young Australians?' Emma says:

If the government wants to build a better tomorrow for young Australians, the first step must be to give Elders the microphone. Not just in Indigenous spaces, not just on Country, but in front of the whole nation.

Elders brought the Uluru Statement from the Heart across this continent, offering a way forward for all Australians. And then they were turned away in the referendum. That cannot happen again.

Storytelling has long been a practise that is utilised by humans in a way to share experiences and entertain. Around campfires my ancestors orally told stories and exchanged sacred information in the form of song.

With eager ears and light filled eyes small children cast their hearts and minds to the world of oral storytelling, allowing themselves to be immersed in lore and legend.

The stories my ancestors told around campfires were not fairy tales or fantasy words spun together simply to spend an evening with peaceful quiet children.

No, the stories we told around campfires, continue to tell around campfires and on country, are legends, lores and the way in which we owe the country as custodians.

Even now it is the most important form of which elders convince the younger generation to care. When elders tell stories they are convincing us with their utter existence that country is our soul and our spirit.

That in the lines on their weathered face and hands, we could trace paths similar to desert tracks, or in the grooves in sea worn stone.

The tone of their voice and the melody of their songs trace our entire ancestry, the same songs have left the lips of hundreds of mothers before them, and we are growing in this moment to understand that they will leave our lips one day for the future lineage.

In order to convince somebody to care that has to be a connection. To hear a parental figures' voice crack under the weight of the cruel mistreatment that they have endured. Is to be convinced your entire childhood is crumbling.

The innate human response to others' pain—written or told, is empathy, but the sheer gravity of seeing another human's pain, written on their body, in their voice, see it well up in their eyes. There is nothing that could convince someone to care more than that.

It is much more difficult to ignore somebody standing in front of you, begging you to care and to listen, than it is to simply close a book with the same message.

Oral storytelling is powerful and potent. It forces us to face our humanity and morals. It allows us to connect and care, and share with real human connection.

And most importantly it can convince the young to continue this culture that has existed for … 60,000 years.

Around campfires, in river valleys, on beaches, in communities. The stories told by elders continue convincing the young to be blak loud and proud, more than a white man's written word ever could. That is why Elders deserve the microphone. Because when they speak to the whole country—not just to us, but to all Australians—they can lead us to a better tomorrow.