Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I had the honour of attending the Barunga Festival on the weekend and being the only non-government parliamentarian to make the trek to the regional Northern Territory town, 83 kilometres outside of Katherine. I was able to watch the red dust flying from the flag dances and joined over a hundred of the most remote communities in northern Australia.

I was warmly welcomed by Esther and Charlene from the Bagala people of the Jawoyn nation, and it was with much joy, celebration and respectful discussion that the four land councils of the Northern Territory signed the Barunga Voice Declaration and presented it to Minister Burney, on behalf of the government. I was moved to be part of this historic moment.

The Barunga Festival began in 1985 and was a celebration of cultural survival, drawing together people from across the north of Australia to paint, sing, dance and play sport. It was an honour to witness some of those activities and yarn with the mob. I enjoyed the diversity of First Nations traditions shared with the thousands of people that camped at Barunga.

Barunga, like many other festivals, includes important moments of celebration and discussion, the sharing of our cultural practices and the bringing together of communities to discuss social and political issues. In 1988, a few years after the first Barunga Festival, the Barunga Statement was painted and presented to the then Prime Minister, Bob Hawke. The Barunga Statement requested a treaty but also requested that they pass laws to establish a nationally elected Aboriginal and islander organisation to oversee Aboriginal and islander affairs. This was in fact the Voice to Parliament, which we are currently debating in this place.

The Barunga Statement asks    that the body be elected, and I see this as an essential part of the Voice—to be connected to and responsible for the voices of regional and remote communities so that they are heard by all levels of government, including the executive government here in this place. I support the people at Barunga's call for the Voice and their continued calls for treaty and truth-telling.