Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a terrific privilege to be able to stand in the Chamber to speak on this final report from the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition Relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. I should, at the outset, repeat my acknowledgement of the Ngunawal and Nambri peoples, on whose traditional country we gather, and also recognise, from my own home town of Newcastle, the Awabakal and Worimi peoples. I will seek to draw on their millennia of wisdom as we in this parliament try to come to grips with a 200-plus year colonial history and how we might best shape a pathway for the nation to land in a place where constitutional recognition becomes a lived reality.

I would like to thank at the outset all of the participating members of this committee. I know that it was an enormous task, but I must say we probably had the brightest and most committed minds in this parliament put their hands up to undertake this enormous task. I note the model of having co-chairs for this committee rather than the traditional approach of the chair being a government member and the opposition getting the deputy chair position. I pay tribute to those who were able to seek agreement on having co-chairs in this instance. Senator Patrick Dodson, from the opposition, and Mr Julian Leeser, a government member in the House of Representatives, together formed a genuine partnership. Indeed, in many ways, this is a model for what is going to be required for the nation to be able to implement the recommendations of this report.

I would also like to acknowledge the Labor members, the member for Barton, who participated here, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, and the member for Lingiari, who spoke earlier. The crossbench were represented by the member for Indi, who is here in the Chamber as well. There was also Greens senator Rachel Siewert, as well as Senator Amanda Stoker and Senator Jonathon Duniam, and, on the House of Representatives side, Dr John McVeigh and Sussan Ley, who was there for a period of time, and Mr Llew O'Brien. It was an enormous task. There was a lot of travelling across Australia in order to be able to achieve their goals. As the member for Brand said earlier, she and I were incredibly privileged to be at the Barunga Festival at the time the joint committee was hosting its meeting with the four land councils just prior to the Barunga Festival. It was enormously insightful for all of us who were able to be there on that occasion. These are all men and women who have spent literally decades of their lives thinking about the issue of contested histories in Australia and about how you might remedy some of the injustices that have occurred, and participating in very deep and thoughtful discussions on constitutional matters in this community.

It really should come as no surprise that First Nations people might lead us in these sorts of discussions, because it is such a part of their lived reality having to deal with these discrepancies in the Constitution. They feel the very real impacts of the inadequacies of the Constitution as it is currently drafted, probably more deeply than most. So it is no surprise that the meeting with the land councils prior to the Barunga Festival would be so illuminating. People brought great knowledge, humour, love and good faith and intentions to those discussions. I really pay tribute to all of the senior men and women there who really opened up, yet again, their hearts and minds to try and make the rest of us understand what the very real implications of these matters were for everyday life for First Nations peoples.

What has really hit home for me in reading this report and reflecting on just one of those meetings that I attended, there at Barunga, is how critical the way this parliament now responds is. At Barunga, people were reminded that 30 years ago they were promised a treaty. We failed. We totally failed as a nation to live up to that ask and that expectation. I possibly won't be here in 30 years, but I don't want the next member for Newcastle, or anyone else in the next generation, standing in this parliament still calling for a remedy for the injustices that took place in this nation and saying that we have never actually faced the issues squarely enough to find real, lasting solutions.

I think that this report really does open up a pathway. It is critical. You can be assured that every First Nations man, woman and kid is going to be looking to this parliament now and looking at us very closely as to how we conduct ourselves and what course of action we take. I have to say that, for many people, it will be a case of actions speaking louder than words. They have heard it all before, in some cases. This report puts the voice firmly back on the national agenda. That is a good thing because—even though the voice, as recommended by the Uluru statement, might have taken many of us by surprise, in terms of the ask of the nation—that is what very, very close and detailed consultations amongst First Nations people came up with. This was the priority—having a voice.

There are certainly still some live issues about how we enable all of those regional and local voices to be part of the process of establishing a national voice. I think that will be really critical, but this does provide some important first stepping stones in that process. Make no mistake: Labor remains utterly committed to all elements arising from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and we will continue to work with First Nations peoples for a voice in parliament, for a constitutional entrenchment of that voice, which is critical, and for a truth-telling and agreement-making process. These are high-order issues and high priorities for Labor. The significance of truth-telling and agreement-making should be no surprise to anyone in this parliament. It is a vital part of the reconciliation process, where we as a nation confront or, as I said, face squarely the fact that there are contested histories about our nation. We need to understand that history of injustice as experienced by First Nations. That has to be acknowledged. That has to be an important part of that process, and that's why the truth-telling is critical.

I hope that everyone in this place takes very, very seriously the obligation that is now before us to act—to have a very meaningful, purposeful and thoughtful response to this report. I am pleased that, notwithstanding some differences in this Chamber, the voice is firmly back on the agenda. The co-designing with First Nations people at a local, regional and national level is critical to getting this right.

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