Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

It can be said of very few that on their passing they have unequivocally left Australia in a significantly deeper and better place, but there is no doubt that on the passing of Mr Yunupingu it can be justifiably said that he left Australia as a deeper and better place. I want to begin very briefly in Yirrkala—Yolngu territory, just south of Nhulunbuy in East Arnhem. My own experience there was through the rubric of the Indigenous protected areas, for which I had responsibility in 2005 and 2006. One of the most uplifting experiences I have had in my parliamentary time was to visit Yirrkala. Of all the Indigenous communities in Australia that I have had the honour of entering, Yirrkala had the strongest sense of identity, education and art, and it is in no small part due to the influence of Mr Yunupingu and his family. It is an extraordinary family in Indigenous Australia. I believe it is the only Australian family to have produced not one but two Australians of the Year. Of any background and any place in Australia, I think that is a unique achievement.

The point about Yirrkala is very simple: it had role models, it had leaders, and it had people who achieved and succeeded and laid out a pathway for young people to follow. That was about creating a reinforcing culture, rooted in, based on and founded on Yolngu culture but with the higher purpose of the fulfilment of each and every individual in Indigenous Australia. Of course, there were failings and challenges, as there are in any human community, but this was a beacon of what could be. It is against that background that we acknowledge the passing of Mr Yunupingu.

There are three things to recognise here: his education, his art and his health, but all in the context of supporting the grand opportunity of Indigenous Australians to be their full and best selves. Although he is best known for his music, Mr Yunupingu, to my mind, should be best remembered for his work in education. He was the first Indigenous Australian from Arnhem Land to gain a university degree, at Deakin University in Victoria. He was a teacher and then, of all of his achievements, to my mind his highest achievement was becoming Australia's first Indigenous principal in 1990 at Yirrkala Community School in the Northern Territory. He became Australia's first Indigenous principal, and that is a message to people from Indigenous Australia of all ages: you can be anything. The message about the majesty of education and the potential for advancement and participation is peerless.

Beyond education, which of course remained a lifelong passion, there was the area for which he was best known: art, music and dance. Of course, the vehicle for that was Yothu Yindi. This is not well known, but the name is the translation of child and mother, reflecting this notion of balance, harmony and connection between the ages in Indigenous Australia. So, Yothu Yindi, the band, was created in 1986 by Mr Yunupingu, and it was successful in ways beyond everybody's imagination. Ultimately, off the back of the great song Treaty, which won song of the year, there were ARIA music awards, six major albums and induction into the ARIA hall of fame, and Yunupingu became Australian of the Year in the early 1990s. And his music was more than just a celebration of music. It combined art and dance, and it made Indigenous Australia something that Australians were deeply and positively proud of, right through the ages. It shattered old barriers, and I think that was an extraordinary step forward.

In his later days, driven by his own challenges with health—with kidney disease—he became a champion for health in Arnhem Land, in East Arnhem in particular, in his own community of Yirrkala, and did his best to ensure that the services available in the cities were available in the outlying regions. That is a legacy of great human achievement. We have an Australian of the Year, we have somebody who was a community leader, a health leader, and a great artist. But, above all else, he and his family should be remembered as great educators, because that is the indispensable element in giving children of Indigenous origin the pathway to being full and brilliant participants in modern Australia.

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