Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with great humility and pride that I am able to stand here today in this place on what is first nation people's land and always will be first nation people's land to speak on the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum and the 25th anniversary of the Mabo High Court decision.

On 27 May 1967 a federal referendum was held as a result of the hard work, determination and commitment of people like Faith Bandler, Jessie Street and many other white and first nation people. The referendum was a vote on the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals) 1967, which became law on 10 August 1967 following the results of the referendum. These amendments altered sections 51(xxvi) and 127, having immediate effect to include Aboriginal Australians in the determination of population and also empowered the federal parliament to legislate, specifically, for first nation people. This referendum saw the highest 'yes' vote ever recorded in a federal referendum with 90.77 per cent voting for change in all six states. It is interesting to note that, because the majority of parliamentarians supported the proposed amendment, a 'no' case was never formulated for presentation as part of the referendum campaign.

It has always been a huge disappointment to me that it was only Townsville and Toowoomba that delivered a 'no' vote in the 1967 referendum. However, 25 years on from the referendum, the Mabo High Court decision was delivered, and I like to think our community redeemed ourselves to some degree because the knowledge, work and support of three white men played an instrumental role in working with Eddie Koki Mabo and the plaintiffs to win the momentous High Court decision. They were Professors Henry Reynolds and Noel Loos, who worked at James Cook University where Eddie Koiki Mabo worked, and the Hon. Mike Reynolds, who was the mayor of Townsville at the time.

On 4 June 2017, I was honoured to speak at the Mabo celebration dinner in Townsville with the Hon. Linda Burney MP and at the invitation of Mrs Bonita Mabo and Gail Mabo. The Mabo High Court decision speaks to the resilience and sheer determination of a man, Eddie Koiki Mabo, who simply refused to accept that his people did not own their land. He would not accept the nation of terra nullius, no man's land, as determined by James Cook. As we are now well aware, this land has been inhabited by first nation people for some 60,000 years.

I feel a great personal connection to the Mabo decision as Townsville is my home, and I grew up in Garbutt, where the Mabo family lived and where the planning and hard work was done. I first became aware of the injustices to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders when I was at high school at St Patrick's College on the Strand, where young women from Palm Island, who were boarding at the school, were subjected to the fact that their parents needed to get permission to visit them on the mainland. As a teenager I also remember Professor Gracelyn Smallwood and her many activists, never silent, always out there demanding justice, recognition and a fair go for first nation people.

On 20 May 1982, Eddie Koiki Mabo, Sam Passi, David Passi, Celuia Mapo Salee and James Rice began their legal claim for ownership of their lands on the island of Mer in the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea. The High Court required the Supreme Court of Queensland to determine the facts on which the case was based, but while the case was with the Queensland court, the state parliament passed the Queensland Coast Islands Declaratory Act, which stated, 'Any rights that Torres Strait Islanders had to land after the claim of sovereignty in 1879 is hereby extinguished without compensation.' The challenge to this legislation was taken to the High Court, and the decision in this case, known as Mabo 1, was that the act was in conflict with the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and was thus invalid. It was not until 3 June 1992 that Mabo 2 was decided and terra nullius—nobody's land—was extinguished once and for all in law. By then 10 years had passed, and both Celuia Mapo Salee and Eddie Koiki Mabo had passed away. Six of the judges agreed that the Meriam people did have traditional ownership of their land, with Justice Dawson dissenting from the majority judgement. The judges held that British possession had not eliminated their title and that the Meriam people are entitled, as against the whole world, to possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of the lands of the Murray islands.

Following the High Court decision in Mabo 2, the Commonwealth parliament passed the Native Title Act in 1993, enabling Indigenous people throughout Australia to claim traditional rights to unalienated land. The judgements of the High Court in the Mabo case inserted the legal doctrine of native title into Australian law. In recognising the traditional rights of the Meriam people to their islands in the eastern Torres Strait, the court also held that native title existed for all Indigenous people in Australia prior to Cook's instruction and the establishment of the British colony of New South Wales in 1788. This decision altered the foundation of land law in Australia. The new doctrine of native title replaced the 17th century doctrine of terra nullius, nobody's land, on which British claims of possession of Australia were based. I cannot begin to imagine what it must have been like for Eddie Koiki Mabo, Sam Passi, David Passi, Celuia Mapo Salee and James Rice to fight the battle of their lives for 10 long years, and then for Eddie Koiki Mabo and Celuia Mapo Salee not to be alive when that amazing decision was brought down. It does not even bear contemplation. But I am sure that their families held their spirits in their hearts, and when the decision finally came down there was much joy for those plaintiffs and the people of Mer island.

What does Mabo teach us as a community? It teaches us that we can never measure or assess the will of an individual to fight for what they believe in and to succeed against all of the odds. It teaches us that we should never give up. It teaches us that standing up for our rights and the rights of those vulnerable in our society is always the right thing to do. Above all it teaches us that our first-nation people are resilient. They have an inner strength that has seen them survive every attempt by white man to eradicate them in some circumstances. Now is the time for us to all come together as citizens of this great nation to give our first-nation people their rightful place in our society. They deserve no less. We as a nation will all be better off for our work in uniting this great country. Our young people need to know that out of adversity comes not only survival but, most importantly, growth that will flourish into a fair go for all citizens.

This year is also the 60th anniversary of the 1957 Palm Island strike. On 9 June this year I attended a public commemoration in the Perfumed Gardens in Townsville. The stories from the family members of those five men were simply inspirational. This strike came about as a result of a complaint to the superintendent about the shocking living conditions on Palm Island. He did not take any notice of the complaint; in fact, it was complete ignored. Also, Albie Geia was accused of disobeying a foreman and was ordered off the island, but he refused to go. It was at this time that he and six other men took the courageous decision to go on strike. For their action, these men and their families were ordered off the island and sent to other communities in Queensland. They were not paid proper wages, they did not get their entitlements, they did not get superannuation and they had no ability to leave an inheritance to their children, even though they had worked incredibly hard for their working lives. This has impacted on their children and their children's children. However, the 1967 referendum and the 1992 Mabo High Court decision did give hope to our first nation people, and a strike of that nature would never, ever happen again. I am honoured to share this land with the oldest living culture on earth, and it is now our time to bring this nation together in a real and meaningful way.

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