Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Identifying as Aboriginal has brought and will always bring a sense of pride to me and my family. Growing up as an Aboriginal that might look a bit different, I was often told by others that I had two paths to walk, but neither of them could ever meet, let alone be mentioned in the same sentence. But I chose to walk them together. I chose to be proud of my culture, and I still am proud of my culture. I will continue to walk these paths. I will not let ignorance define me, and I will not let it define my family.

Anyone who has taken the time to understand me as a person knows that, above all else, I value family. My grandmother Aunty Robyn, of whom my community hears me speak so fondly and frequently, is a proud Aboriginal Mingaletta elder and a woman of Wiradjuri descent, and she sits up in the Speaker's gallery today. She is one of the kindest, most accepting, pure-hearted people that anyone could ever hope to meet. As a well-recognised and accepted elder of Mingaletta, she gifts our community the knowledge, culture and education to safeguard the past, focus us on the present and inspire us to look to the future.

I am proud of my Aboriginal heritage, and the desire to strip someone of this pride is something that I will never understand. I am of Wiradjuri heritage. I am of the Mingaletta community. I am Aboriginal. My family is Aboriginal, and we are proud.