Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Jobs) Share this | Hansard source

In decades past, Australia has been lifted by many great Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, and I feel very privileged to be following on from the member for Barton, who, of course, is the first Aboriginal woman who has been elected to the House of Representatives and certainly fits in that pantheon. Pearl Gibbs, Dr Evelyn Scott and Mum Shirl are just some of the names of women who fought courageously for their people and against prejudice and the injustices of their times; women who made Australia a better country.

Last week another incredible woman passed—Bonita Mabo. Dr Mabo campaigned alongside her late husband, Eddie Mabo, in pursuit of land rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In the famous Mabo v Queensland court case, Eddie Mabo successfully challenged the notion of terra nullius—that Australia was a 'land belonging to no-one'—in the High Court of Australia. Their fight lasted more than a decade. Sadly, Eddie Mabo did not live to see that landmark decision which paved the way for the Native Title Act 1993. In 2017, Bonita recalled the moment she heard about the High Court decision.

We were just outside of Sydney and we stopped and pulled up on the side of the road and Malita rang us and said 'dad won the decision, won the case', she said.

And we just jumped out and we just hugged each other. And we were as proud as punch.

Following her husband's death in 1992, Dr Mabo continued her activism for a new cause—the rights of Australian South Sea Islander people. During an award ceremony for an honorary doctorate from James Cook University just a week before she died, her 45 years of campaigning for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and Australian South Sea Islanders was recognised. She has been described by her people as 'one of the greatest matriarchs of all time'.

Bonita was born in Ingham, Queensland, one of 10 children. Eddie and Bonita also had 10 children. She was an Australian South Sea Islander of Ni-Vanuatu descent whose ancestors were indentured and sent to Australia to work in the sugarcane industry in the 19th century—known as blackbirding. In 1973 Eddie and Bonita established the Black Community School in Townsville, where children could learn about their own culture. In later years she fought for South Sea Islanders to be recognised in Australia as their own distinct ethnic group. She was recognised in the Order of Australia in 2013 for 'distinguished service to the Indigenous community and to human rights'.

Tomorrow we say our final farewell to Dr Mabo AO. We think of her family, we think of her friends and we think of all of the lives that she has touched. I would like to thank her for her tireless work to make Australia a better country. On behalf of our nation, we are very grateful.

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