Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I begin by recognising that this parliament meets on the home of the Ngunawal and Ngambri people. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

On Thursday last week, the Minister for the Environment and Water tabled our response to the report by the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia on their inquiry into the destruction of Juukan Gorge on 24 May 2020. I stand here today speaking about this because I was so outraged by this moment in our history—as we should all be. I sat here and heard the minister's response, and she spoke brilliantly about this issue and about the cultural destruction and heritage-site destruction which took place. But then I heard the shadow minister speak about it. What I heard was a speech about funding being given to radical environmental activists; he spoke about 18 coal and gas projects approved by the previous federal environment minister that were being reviewed, and yet I didn't hear any regard for this cultural destruction that took place, which is shameful on all of us.

What happened at Juukan Gorge is a shameful moment in Australia's history. As the traditional owners wrote in their submission to the inquiry:

The Juukan Gorge disaster is a tragedy not only for the PKKP People. It is also a tragedy for the heritage of all Australians and indeed humanity as a whole.

Can you imagine a mining company or a development damaging the pyramids in Egypt? There'd be an outrage! Can you imagine Stonehenge being damaged or destroyed? Again, there would be an outrage! What about the Colosseum in Rome or the Parthenon in Athens? These are cultural sites that people respect and admire, and we here in this country should be admiring and respecting 60,000 years of tradition, 60,000 years of ongoing culture and 60,000 years of ongoing language. Sadly, it's not an isolated incident.

Australia has an incredible, rich history and culture—the oldest continuing living culture in the world. We need to ensure that we all value, appreciate and protect this culture. It is part of us. It is in the fabric of this land. It's the history of this land. It is also our culture, and it deserves our respect. This goes hand-in-hand with our desire to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, including a Voice to Parliament. It is inextricably linked because, unless we give First Nations Australians a genuine say in policy design and legislation, we will continue to face situations like what happened in Juukan Gorge. We'll continue to table our Closing the gap report on this side of the House.

It is time that, as a nation, we stand side by side with First Nations people. We need to allow First Nations people to have a say in how the gap needs to be closed and where it needs to be closed. A Voice to Parliament will give First Nations Australians self-determination and empowerment. The changes this can create for future generations can be absolutely remarkable, but this requires all of us to work together. It requires that, as a nation, we gather all the goodwill and love and hope we can muster and say yes to a Voice to Parliament and the Uluru Statement from the Heart. While not every person may agree with every small detail, we need to act, because doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is the very definition of madness. We must ensure that what happened at Juukan Gorge—the destruction of an ancient site—never happens again. Australians are outraged, and so they should be. It's high time that we did things differently.