Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Given that today is the 10th anniversary of the Bringing them home report into the stolen generations and Sunday is the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum, will the Prime Minister consider joining with me in committing to three things that define reconciliation as Jackie Huggins, Co-Chair of Reconciliation Australia, has identified: recognition of the first people of this country, justice to overcome disadvantage—in particular, the 17-year life expectancy gap—and healings so that all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, can move forward?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I acknowledge that Sunday is the 40th anniversary of the historic referendum. It was a historic day. I can certainly remember handing out how-to-vote ‘yes’ cards on this particular issue with the former Lord Mayor of Sydney, Doug Sutherland, who had been the Labor Party candidate in the seat of Parkes. I think we worked together at the Campsie Public School. It was a rather unusual experience to be working together on that issue. So, certainly, there was a great mood of bipartisanship.

In relation to the issues identified by Jackie Huggins, a woman for whom I have a profound regard, I think the most appropriate thing is for both the Leader of the Opposition and me to put forward in good faith our own views. I do believe very strongly that this nation has a long way to go, and I share the views of the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the member for Longman, when he said yesterday that, rather than setting particular targets, our own generic target should be to completely close the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and other Australians.

We have made progress, but that progress has not been enough. I particularly applaud the efforts that are being made by the minister to improve Aboriginal housing in the Northern Territory. I am as distressed as he clearly is by the refusal of local communities to recognise that, if there is to be progress in areas like that, there needs to be an assumption of greater personal responsibility. My views on these matters are often very similar to those expressed by Noel Pearson. He has spoken very regularly of the need for the Indigenous people of Australia to break welfare dependency and to assume greater personal responsibility.

There are some areas in relation to the symbolism of reconciliation where my views and those of the Australian Labor Party are different, and I am quite open about that. There is no point in engaging in any false positions. To the extent that our views do coincide, we should put them forward with vigour and without rancour; but, where they disagree, we should be frank about that disagreement. I had different views from the Labor Party about aspects of the Bringing them home report. I do not retract those views. I do not expect the Labor Party to retract its views. I have a different attitude from the Labor Party in relation to a formal apology. My view has not changed in relation to that, and it will not change. I do not expect the Labor Party’s to change. I think we should put those things on the table. I think we are united in our desire to see the Indigenous people of this country become in every way part of our mainstream Australian society while continuing to recognise their special place as the first Australians and continuing to recognise their right to treasure their own particular culture. But I have always held the view that the best way to help the Indigenous people of this nation is to give them the greatest possible access to the bounty and good fortune of this nation, and that cannot happen unless they are absorbed into our mainstream.