Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Earlier this month, the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the first formal truth-telling commission of its kind in this country, handed down its final historic reports. Amongst the commission's many findings were that crimes of genocide were committed against the First Peoples of Victoria. The report clearly calls for federal action on land rights, reparations for the crimes committed against us and repatriation of our cultural, secret and sacred objects. This could be a turning point for all people in this country and for the self-determination and independence of First Peoples and First Nations not just in Victoria but across this continent.

I want to start at the beginning. Yoorrook means 'truth' in the Wemba Wemba language, a language that is now extinct and one of the many victims of the attempted genocide against the First Peoples of this continent. We talk a lot about truth-telling, but why do we need to tell the truth or have a truth-telling commission? Well, when we talk about the truth of this country, people don't want to hear it. It makes them uncomfortable, so they object to it and they hide it. They call it the 'black armband' version of history. They say it's a history better forgotten, buried, left unsaid. They want to continue the lies, especially in this place. Our leaders have a selective memory, and what they choose to remember and forget is deliberate. It's political and it's a sophisticated effort to distance themselves from atrocities not only committed in the past but which continue to be committed under their watch today.

Take, for example, our Anzacs, who have a national day of mourning, a sacred day that recognises their sacrifice, struggle and loss. Few people know that returning First Nations Anzac soldiers were given nothing. They were considered good enough to die for this country, but they were still not good enough to be considered as citizens or granted the same entitlements as their returning white counterparts. Soldier settlement schemes gifted huge parcels of land to white soldiers, yet First Nations soldiers were denied in a continuation of land dispossession and racist segregation.

Our leaders not only have a selective memory but a deliberate doublethink. They acknowledge the findings of Yoorrook with bleeding hearts while knowingly upholding and expanding the racist system of dispossession that kills us. If we don't collectively reckon with our history, then how can we understand where we are today? How can we move forward together in healing? That is why truth-telling is urgent. If we don't know where we have come from, how do we know where we are going?

I urgently call on this government to follow through on its previous promises to establish a national truth-telling commission. As the Yoorrook Justice Commission said, the past is the present, and the policies of genocide, assimilation and destruction are not behind us. The systemic violence continues to harm our people every day. This genocide continues to traumatise our people, and acknowledging the past is only the beginning. We must hold to account those responsible for the ongoing genocide. Truth-telling alone is not enough. It must be accompanied by change and action that will liberate our people from the colonial shackles and chains once and for all.