Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the marking of the 20th anniversary of the passing of Eddie Mabo. There are moments in each of our lives which define who we are and what we stand for, moments which may even determine our destiny. The significance of those moments may sometimes not become clear until much later. The story of a nation is similarly marked by such moments where an event or even a speech may change the course of its people. When a moment in the life of an individual determines both the character and destiny of the individual and that of a nation, the moment is indeed profound. For Eddie Koiki Mabo that moment was his realisation in 1974 that his ancestral lands had been taken from him and were owned by the Crown. That moment changed his life and the spirit of a nation.

Eddie Mabo's name has since been ingrained in Australian history. Joined by Sam Passi, David Passi, Celuia Mapo Salee and James Rice, Eddie Mabo began his crusade to have his lands returned to their rightful owners—the Meriam people. His determination gave inspiration to his people. Born in 1936, Eddie Mabo was a Meriam man from Mer island, better known as Murray Island, in the Torres Strait. His mother died very early in his life and he was raised by his maternal Uncle Benny. At 19 years of age he was exiled from his homeland, not even allowed to return to see his dying father.

He settled in Townsville and soon established a reputation as an activist or, as others would describe him, an agitator. He attended protest marches and would sit in white-man-only bars waiting to be served. As the member for Barton reminded us in his Lionel Murphy Memorial Lecture delivered at the Australian National University on 7 September 2011, Lionel Murphy in a 1982 judgment had this to say about agitators:

If he is an agitator, he is in good company. Many of the great religious and political figures of history have been agitators and human progress owes much to the efforts of these and many who are unknown.

Indeed Australia owes much to Eddie Mabo. He too was an agitator. His decade-long battle ended on 3 June 1992 when justice was restored. Sadly, Eddie Mabo did not live to hear the High Court verdict. He died five months earlier, in January 1992. His life, however, was recognised when he was granted an Australian Human Rights Medal and perhaps more so by the Australian newspaper in 1992 naming him Australian of the Year. His legacy, however, is not what he achieved for himself but what he achieved for his people and for Australia.

Both as individuals and as a nation our identity is determined by what we do. We are judged harshly for our wrongdoings and praised for what we do right. Since white settlement in Australia, the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians has been the cause of some of our greatest failures and national shame. Conversely, the relationship has delivered some of Australia's greatest moments—for example, the 1967 referendum, Gough Whitlam on 16 August 1975 pouring a handful of dirt into the hands of Vincent Lingiari symbolising the return of their lands, Cathy Freeman carrying the Australian flag around Sydney Olympic Stadium at the 2000 Olympics, Paul Keating's Redfern speech in December 1992, Kevin Rudd's apology to the stolen generation, and of course the High Court Mabo case. All left proud images imprinted in the hearts and minds of those who were there at the time or who in their own way shared in the moment. On each of these occasions the international community looked on with praise and admiration. Indeed they were all moments of national pride.

In rejecting the notion of terra nullius in a six-one judgment, the High Court handed down a verdict which signalled three very important messages: firstly, that no person and no government is above natural justice; secondly, that our justice system is there for all; and, thirdly, that all people are equal in Australian law. The 1992 High Court decision was a personal victory for Eddie Mabo, a cultural victory for his people and a national victory for Australian identity. Not everyone, however, was pleased with Eddie Mabo's crusade. His grave site in Townsville was desecrated and he was reburied on Murray Island.

The High Court decision was not, however, a panacea for the complex problems facing Australia's Indigenous people. There is no better recognition of that than the government's Closing the Gap statement. The merits of the Northern Territory intervention policy continue to be disputed. What is not disputed, however, is that the underlying problems which led to the intervention must be addressed. As Eddie Mabo's wife, Bonita Neehow, recently said in an interview published in the Australian newspaper on 2 June 2012: 'The alcohol, drugs and sexual abuse problems poisoning indigenous communities are still there.'

In the Lionel Murphy Memorial Lecture that I referred to earlier, the member for Barton addressed the disadvantage that exists throughout Indigenous communities. As with the mainland Indigenous people, the permeation of white culture into the Torres Strait Islands over the past 200 years has forever changed the once peaceful existence they enjoyed. A new culture has set in and neither white nor Indigenous culture offers the solutions we are looking for. We need new approaches, we need to look outside of our normal thinking and we need people like Eddie Mabo.

I have spoken about Aboriginal and Indigenous disadvantage in this country on many other occasions and I will not go into it in detail other than to say this: it is a problem that has confronted governments of this nation now for at least 50 years. It is a problem where governments have been well intentioned in their efforts to address that disadvantage over the 50 years and I am aware of governments and ministers from both sides of politics who have worked in earnest to try and reduce that disadvantage. The statistics we see today, and again I understand there was some more commentary in the daily papers today, are still of concern to us all. The disadvantage that exists is still widespread and still a cause of embarrassment and national shame for the people of Australia. We do need to look for alternative solutions and we do need to recognise that until we find those solutions that disadvantage will continue.

I close by making reference briefly to the judges that were sitting in the High Court case at the time: Justice Mason, Brennan, Deane, Dawson, Toohey, Gaudron and McHugh. Justice Dawson was the dissenting judge. All of the others were in general agreement with the verdict. It should be noted that it is of credit to them that, after so many years, they too recognised the injustice that had been perpetrated on the Indigenous people of Australia by denying them their rightful entitlement to the land on which they lived. Vincent Lingiari, whom I referred to earlier, was perhaps one of the first Indigenous people to try and lay claim to the lands from which he came and that is why, as I said earlier, Gough Whitlam poured a handful of dirt into his hands. It was symbolic of the land that was returned to his people at the time.

But that was returned under different circumstances. It was not as profound as the Mabo decision, which in fact recognised the title that existed for the Indigenous people because they had previously lived off the land. For the judges who handed down the decision it would not have been an easy decision to have made at the time given that there was 200 years of history, and not only in this country. Perhaps it is even more extensive if you go to other Commonwealth nations. Yet they made this decision knowing full well what the consequences of it would be, and I commend them for the justice they handed down on the day. I commend Eddie Mabo and his colleagues for taking up the fight on behalf of their people.

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