Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to associate myself with the comments of those who have spoken on the condolence motion to honour Edward Gough Whitlam ACQC, who was Australia's 21st prime minister. I offer my condolences to Gough and Margaret's children, Nicholas, Tony, Stephen and Catherine. Having lost my own father, I am acutely aware of the gap the loss of a parent means.

In death we celebrate the qualities of an individual. We acknowledge the achievements they made and the strides they undertook in order to reform and reflect a contemporary Australia.

In Aboriginal affairs there are three men who stand out significantly as being major reformers in Aboriginal affairs and the way in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people receive services and programs to enhance their quality of life. There was the Hon. Fred Chaney and the Hon. Ian Viner; but Gough, particularly, was held in hero status by many Indigenous Australians.

The Whitlam government Indigenous affairs policy area was the most transformational change; it changed the way in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were engaged in issues affecting their lives.

Let me cite a couple of quotes. These quotes are not untypical of those I have heard over the last week:

Mr Whitlam was a great friend of Aboriginal people and the land councils in the Northern Territory.

That was Samuel Bush-Blanasi, Northern Land Council chairman. Maurie Ryan, grandson of Vincent Lingiari, said:

He is part of our folklore, he will be remembered for hundreds of years.

Galarrwuy Yunupingu said:

In his time as Prime Minister Mr Whitlam was a great friend to Indigenous Australians. He always acted in a direct and determined way to resolve issues.

Many others have made similar comments across the nation.

From the perspective of the Aboriginal community, the Whitlam government established a policy of self-determination whereby the Commonwealth supported decision-making by Indigenous communities themselves. They relinquished the paternalistic control that previous governments had wielded over the lives of Indigenous people. Indigenous Australians welcomed the Whitlam government's empowerment of Indigenous people and the opportunity to make input into policy-making, and the abolition of discriminatory practices that limited their freedoms and opportunities. It was interesting when Gough Whitlam, in his 1972 election campaign speech, made it very clear that one of his focus areas would be to remedy the context and situation in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people found themselves. He gave an undertaking that he would reform many of the practices and also put into place a way of doing things for Australian governments that would be very different to that of the past.

The establishment of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs meant that for the first time there was a concerted focus by government on the range of issues that impacted on the lives of Indigenous Australians. The Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health was established as a small unit within the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and later on was transferred to Health, where it has become a significant structure that supports Aboriginal community controlled health services, state and Territory governments and Aboriginal communities in the work that is being undertaken to provide quality health care and services that will close the gap in life.

The establishment of Absec and Abstudy ensured that many young Aboriginal people across this nation could access secondary education to the end of year 12. Abstudy provided a pathway into tertiary studies that saw many graduate from university with degrees who would, in the future, hold leadership places. I think of Lowitja O'Donoghue, Charlie Perkins and many others who, through the university pathway, became great leaders who shaped the thinking of many governments. The other element that was important in the Whitlam era, and which is often cited in many of the interactions I have with Aboriginal people and organisations, was that it was the government that established the national Aboriginal council. The council is not just one individual advising government, but a number of people. Guidance to the government was sourced not from one or two, but from many. The practice in our society, in our Australian community, is to seek the views of so many in shaping policy and direction. That has always been a strength Aboriginal people saw in the Whitlam era. That is why there is often that association—that Aboriginal people tend to vote for Labor—because they saw it as a period in which they became a significant part of the agenda. They became a significant part of shaping their destiny and their future in concert with governments and government agencies. That tradition has been carried on and we now see a diversification of the political structures in Aboriginal society, which is in a sense a normalisation that you would expect when there is a bipartisan approach to the way we now deal with those areas where there are still gaps.

The thing that stuck most in my mind was in 1975 when Gough Whitlam returned land to the Gurindji people, which had been denied them in the 1971 Gove land rights decision. His famous hand gesture of pouring sand into Lingiari's hand was intended to symbolically reverse a similar act in 1834 when John Batman received sand poured into his hand by an Aboriginal elder when they struck their treaty in Melbourne, which was later seen to be not of consequence.

During the Whitlam era, Aboriginal affairs saw some significant changes in Aboriginal people's psyche; we engaged and walked with all Australians as equals. If I look back, from where we are now, to the period of the seventies, I can see that the relationships—the partnering and the friendships, the work that is being done, the economic enhancement that has occurred, the educational opportunities—have been significantly enriched. When you plant a small seed—and it grows into something big for others to follow and to implement—change becomes much more significant.

Our current Prime Minister and the previous Prime Ministers' commitment to constitutional recognition is a process emanating out of the period of the Whitlam government in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities found themselves to be an integral part of the society in which they lived. I recall all of this because I was part of the leadership fights. We had to fight for reform. We had to fight for the changes that were needed.

We also had to fight for an equal place at the table where our views could be accepted. I remember sitting at a table and asking a question about Aboriginal health. There were doctors on both sides. The answer given was not given to me. The doctor who gave the answer looked directly at his medical counterpart on our side of the table, four people away from me, and gave him the answer. So when he finished I said to him: 'Can I ask you the question again.' And he looked at me and said, 'I have given the answer.' I said, 'No, you did not give me the answer. You gave the answer to my colleague.' I think we have moved on from that time. Now, when you ask a question, the answer is given directly to you. Communities are finding that is much more the case now than it ever was. The paternalistic approaches that prevailed in our history changed when Gough Whitlam implemented Aboriginal affairs programs.

On behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, I would like to acknowledge the contribution that Gough Whitlam made—the work that he did to transform the future, the work that led to many of the changes that we now take for granted. As I said, if I look back over the last 40 years at the changes and the differences that are felt and experienced in many Aboriginal communities—although they are still problematic in some areas—where we are now is far superior to where we were in 1972.

So I salute Gough Whitlam and I certainly salute all of those who were part of his journey and the contribution he made to the history of this nation. Thank you.

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