David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

At the start I want to acknowledge the words of my colleague Senator Cox and commend her work in this space. Australia is one of only a handful of settler colonial states that does not have a treaty with its first nations peoples. That gap in our history, that flaw in our national DNA, will continue to hurt and divide us until it is mended.

This week this chamber is debating just one part of the Statement from the Heart—voice. Voice is part of moving forward, but it's only a small part and by itself will not deliver the real self-determination, the respect, the land and the place that the First Nations people of this land deserve. For that to happen we must also advance truth and treaty. This is the compact that the Greens are committed to—all three elements of the Statement from the Heart: truth, treaty and voice.

We know that truth telling will be an ongoing process, and we've heard part of that in this chamber today. There will always be stories to be told. We also know that treaty negotiations will take a considerable amount of time and will likely happen under multiple governments. But this isn't an argument to say it's too hard. It's an argument to say, 'Let's get started today.' Imagine where we would be today if Bob Hawkes's two-year experiment with treaty had instead been the first two years in the 30-year long process that we have inherited. Imagine how much stronger our nation would be. We need to ensure that that's the legacy we leave behind 30 years from now.

While we work towards treaty or treaties, we must also work on providing the power, resources and self-determination that First Nations peoples are already telling us are essential for their success. If we listen, we can already hear these demands coming clearly, repeatedly and directly from First Nations communities. These are demands for schools that teach in language, First Nations led community health care, culturally safe and informed programs for substance abuse, caring for country programs, justice reinvestment and getting young people out on country to learn about the lore and culture of their land. The demands are also about economic and cultural empowerment, including native title reform, stronger rights for First Nations people when it comes to mining on their land, and better protections for First Nations cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible—real respect for the longest continuing culture on this planet. For many, it's also about implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into federal law, about implementing all the recommendations of the deaths in custody royal commission and not hiding it under a consultancy report, and about implementing the Bringing them home report, keeping kids safe on country with family, instead of ripping them away from their families— (Time expired)