Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to talk about the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee, commonly known as NAIDOC. This week is NAIDOC Week and as I speak events are taking place right across the country celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and recognising the contributions that Aboriginal Australians have made and continue to make to our country and our society.

NAIDOC Week is always a fantastic week. There are events in every corner of the country, ranging from the very serious to the very fun. Just some of the events include flag-raising ceremonies, history seminars, art classes and exhibitions, health and suicide prevention seminars and sporting events.

This year's NAIDOC theme is 'Serving Country—Centenary and Beyond'. The theme honours all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women who have fought in defence of our country. There are several events commemorating those who served, to reflect on their sacrifice and to recognise the role they have played in shaping our identity and the priceless contribution they have made to our nation. I pay my personal respects to all these Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians past and present.

NAIDOC Week ends with a national awards ceremony on the Gold Coast on Friday night, which I am really looking forward to attending. It will be the first time I have attended as politician. I have attended previously as a recipient of a sporting accolade.

NAIDOC Week is a great opportunity for people from every background in Australia to celebrate the 50,000 years of this country's history. NAIDOC is about unity. It is about people from every culture that makes up this great country coming together. Unfortunately, this NAIDOC Week has started on a sour note. I have been inundated with concerns from people throughout Australia in relation to the comments from the Prime Minister late last week, when he said:

I guess our country owes its existence to a form of foreign investment by the ... in the then unsettled or, um, scarcely settled, Great South Land.

I have three major issues with this statement—which is remarkable given that it is such a short sentence. Firstly, this country does not owe its existence to any form of foreign investment. Secondly, British settlement was not foreign investment; it was occupation. And, thirdly, Australia was not unsettled when the British arrived. Those are not my opinions; they are three plain and simple facts. Ironically, when the Prime Minister made these comments I was in Kakadu, surrounded by paintings dating back 30,000 years.

The Prime Minister is spending a week in East Arnhem Land in September. I encourage him, when he is there, to talk to the Yolngu people about how our ancestors were trading with the Makassans 400 to 500 years ago and to talk about the rock paintings .

As I mentioned, I have been inundated with concerns from many Australians—not just from Aboriginal people—right across Australia, and I know that other members of parliament have been inundated as well with concerns about the Prime Minister's comments. However, not all of the correspondence I have received has been supportive. There is no other way to describe some of what I have received than racist hate mail. As politicians we are all used to anonymous trolls on the internet attacking us from time to time. But none of us should ever have to put up with racist attacks. Some people are saying things to me and to other Aboriginal people like, 'Just get over it. We won; you lost,' in relation to British settlement. They are saying that this is a public debate. That is not debate. And that is why I am speaking up. I think the Prime Minister needs to understand that this is the sort of action he encourages, even if he does not intend to, when he makes comments such as those.

But my major issue is not with the comments he made last week. My major issue is with the Prime Minister's proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act. This is more than comment; this is the government actively changing legislation, which the Attorney-General has defended as protecting the rights of bigots.

When the Attorney-General made those comments earlier this year I was one of several people who raised my concerns that his comments would be a green light to racism and hate speech. And, sadly, I think that this has been the case. The Prime Minister and the Attorney-General have given a degree of comfort to bigots to engage in racist hate speech.

I have written to the Prime Minister saying that his changes to the Racial Discrimination Act are compromising progress towards constitutional recognition. You cannot on one hand say you want to recognise Aboriginal Australians in the Constitution and then on the other hand tell Aboriginal people that you want to change the law to protect the rights of bigots.

I say to Tony Abbott that you cannot possibly be the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Australians unless you drop your planned Racial Discrimination Act changes. In saying that, I acknowledge that this is not just about Aboriginal Australians; it is about all Australians, given that some 5,500 submissions have already been received by the Attorney-General.

I will finish on a positive note—and that is about the week of unity that NAIDOC represents. Happy NAIDOC Week for all Australians! It is a way to celebrate our entire history.