Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Today on Mabo Day on ancient Ngunnawal and Ngambri land and recognising the Yugambeh and Jaggerra people who have long inhabited my own local area, we celebrate the life and achievements of an Australian hero, a man whose name now echoes through our history, a man whose crusade for rights and equality for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is a source of pride for all of the original custodians of this land and, indeed, for all Australians of good heart. Mabo Day celebrates the day 22 years ago that saw the end of the legal deceit 'terra nullius'. It was when the Australian legal system, itself a construct of the white settlers, conceded the original ownership of this country. This called for leadership and courage from the political system, and not for the only time. Paul Keating delivered it by legislating native title in response to the High Court decision of 1992.

I find it really moving to read again his reflections on this period. He said:

… I saw the approach of using the High Court’s native title route as possessing an even greater attribute—and that was truth. There is, especially in public life, no more beautiful a characteristic than truth. Truth is of its essence liberating; it is possessed of no contrivance or conceit—it provides the only genuine basis for progress.

And in the words of the member for Jagajaga, herself a crusader for Indigenous rights, the journey of Eddie Mabo, the High Court decision and the Keating's subsequent legislation 'saw past a falsehood to a future'. The audacity of fighting for this ideal in the face of absurd and shrieking arguments from its opposition, as Mabo did on behalf of his people and Keating did on behalf of the government, is a moment of national truth-telling that we should remember forever.

Chris Tamwoy, an up-and-coming Torres Strait Islander musician who lives in my electorate and who I am proud to call my friend, said on Facebook this morning that 'Granddad Eddie' as he calls him, is a 'great warrior' and a 'legend'. I wanted to join with Chris and all other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from my electorate and around Australia—all people who believe in reconciliation—to recognise this great warrior, Eddie Mabo, and those who fought alongside him to tell this truth and to right this wrong.

See this speech in context