Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the Top End the wet season is almost here. It has mostly brought heat and humidity so far, but some good storms as well as some good rain. This season is known as the balnba season in the traditional language of the area I represent, which is the language of the Larrakia people. Balnba means 'the rainy season'. The Larrakia people are the traditional owners of the Greater Darwin region, and, even though their borders extend 50 kilometres or so inland, they are known as a saltwater people. The Larrakia, of course, have an extremely important role to play in shaping Darwin and, indeed, Palmerston and the Litchfield shire—the greater area.

I wish to place on the record my support for the parts of the recently signed Darwin City Deal that enhance Larrakia culture in the Greater Darwin area. In partnership with the Larrakia people, all levels of government will collaborate to showcase and celebrate Larrakia culture and to support the Larrakia people's economic development aspirations. They will do this through support to facilitate a Larrakia cultural centre where Larrakia people can meet and can, importantly, share their knowledge and promote their rich culture to both Greater Darwin residents and to visitors.

Further support will be provided to improve understanding of Larrakia cultural protocols, and this will form part of a suite of outreach services known as Larrakia Nation Assist, which also includes the day patrol and Territory Connect. The Larrakia Host program will work with the Larrakia day patrol and employ six Larrakia—and other Aboriginal people too. Larrakia Host will promote the Larrakia culture to tourists, visitors and local residents. It will provide a referral service to other programs, including the day patrol. It will remind visitors from other communities about the types of behaviours that are acceptable on Larrakia country. The aim of the program is to boost tourism and employment opportunities for Aboriginal people whilst preserving and promoting Larrakia culture.

Recently, I had the pleasure of hosting a participant in the Australian National Internships Program, Charlotte Maybery-Reupert. I talked with Charlotte prior to her starting the internship with me, and she was keen to do something that would really be important for my electorate, for Greater Darwin, in terms of its relationship with its First Nations people. As you're well aware, Mr Deputy Speaker, language is a very strong element of culture, so I asked her whether her research project could look into the revitalisation of the Larrakia language.

For the Larrakia, language is more than a method of communication, of course; it's a storehouse of knowledge about a great ancient culture. For the Larrakia people, preserving their language is an important means of cultural preservation and the maintenance of their identity as it gets passed from generation to generation. But as non-Larrakia people get the opportunity to learn aspects of this language, it also has a great role in reconciliation. To Charlotte, the ANIP intern that was with me, I say thank you. Your work is going to greatly assist me in assisting the Larrakia to revive their language.

Because we need to be thinking of the next generations of young people, I also put on the record my admiration for the work that's done by the Clontarf Foundation, but also the two girls' programs. Clontarf is for young Aboriginal men, but there's also the Girls Academy and the Stars Foundation in the Northern Territory. I've had the privilege in recent weeks to attend many of the graduation ceremonies for the year 12s. It's a humbling and emotional experience. There were no dry eyes in those ceremonies, hearing from the year 12s about how they could never have seen themselves completing year 12 but for the assistance of these programs. I acknowledge those 2018 graduates of these important programs.

I first acknowledge those who completed year 12 through the Casuarina Clontarf Academy: William Anabtowi, James Bell, Shamus Briston, Keenan Bruce, Dawyte Clancy, Dylan Collins, Burtie de Ross,Raul Ferraz, Jett Franciscus, Gregory Hunt, Kobi Jennings, Jacob Jones-Cubillo, Chance Liddy-Wilde, Dennis Manolis, Christopher May, Byron Mayo, Celestino Mayor, Scott McCurry-Parriman, Clive McDonald, Dominic Millar, Joseph Mills, Jye Naismith, Caleb Niki, Braydon Peckham-Hunter, Kieren Quall, Richard Rankin, Malcolm Rosas, Kobe Shepherd-Greenoff,Christopher Thomas, Lee Timms, Dwight Wauchope and Jahdai Wilson.

At the Palmerston Clontarf Academy we had Dennis Alimankinni, Benjamin Crosthwaite, Joshua Croydon, Michael Harris, Ronan Lo, Menaase McKenzie-Roe, Tyson Woodbury, Lucas Munnich, Joel Noakes, Justin Thompson, Ricardo Wees, Jahkeem Wheeler and Earl White. Finally, at the Haileybury Clontarf Academy, we had: Phillip Ahfat, Andre Ellis, Robert Fitzgerald and Fabian Rogers. I distinctly remember that Haileybury graduation. The boys did a magnificent job, as did the girls at the Palmerston College's Girls Academy. We had year 12 completers Cody Akers, Cassandra Ariuu, Jorja Ashworth, Leah Baker, Tia Barba, Annaliese Brennan, Jaymi Chisholm, Silvia Clucas, Crystal Duturbure, Shailee Edwards-Devery, Reann Fraser-Brown, Tulaha Jeffrey and Shauniece Ah Wing.

With the Stars Foundation's program at Casuarina we had the fantastic result of getting all these girls through year 12: Jacinta Anderson, Ellie Ascoli, Aaliyah Bailey, Serena Barton, Emily Boeyen, Tamika Bray, T'ara Cole, Tayha Duggan-Hill, Tayla Hart-Aluni, Ally Gilmore, Tia Hewitt, Tiesha Hewitt, Whitney Koops-Corpus, Indra Mayo, Phoebe Millen, Taliyah Motlap, La-Toniya Norris, Shameka Petersen, Harmony Plues, Alyssa Richardson, Dayna Stanislaus Lawson, Niamah Walters, Kiarhii Williams, Taylah Williams and Anna Wommatakimmi-Chapman.

Finally, at the Haileybury Rendall School, the Stars Foundation's graduates were Nicole Dhurrkay, Rosharlia Djorlom, Courtney Huddleston and Tahlia Rynski. I apologise for any of those names that I may not have pronounced correctly, but I assure you that the spelling will be correct in the Hansard! I congratulate and acknowledge all of those members of those great programs, for which the evidence base is there.

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