Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Constitutional Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023 bill. I acknowledge and pay my respects to the First Nations people with us here today, especially Uncle Major 'Moogy' Sumner, an honoured elder and leader of the Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna people of South Australia.

This bill creates a pathway, a pathway with still more steps ahead, to finally, constitutionally, recognise Australia's First Nations people. It responds to the eloquent and considered call of First Nations Australians for that recognition and for a voice. It is a first step. Beyond it, we have much more to do: to teach our children our real history, to understand that history and all it's meant for generations of First Nations people, to clearly see the cost of colonialism and the long legacy of frontier wars in our country, and to move to create treaties.

Today, our children, including my own grandchild, learn songs and words in Kaurna language, the language of their place. Our public events begin with Kaurna words spoken on Kaurna land in Adelaide. That was not my history, my learning, and it's taken many decades to change the old ways and begin to pay respect to the true history of our nation and our First People.

I grew up as a country kid in Mallee country—what I now know was the land of the Ngarkat people. I had a great public primary education at Lameroo area school, but that education was of its time. It didn't tell the truth of our history. It did not recognise First Nations of this country. It did not recognise a 65,000-year-old history. It did not recognise the deep culture of our place or the role of First Nations Australians across our history—the first agricultural cultivation, the management of fire, the care of country. It did not recognise contributions made in history and in contemporary times to arts, culture, sport and music in Australia. It did not recognise the role of our First Peoples in the long war of resistance to invasion and loss of land and livelihood. It did not recognise a frontier war fought to protect and defend the children and families of First Nations people. And of course we failed to recognise for so many decades the roles of First Nations people fought in wars since invasion. The kids of my generation were raised on British history. But it was whitewashed. It's time to tell the truth and move to makarrata—to treaties that recognise First Australians and their associations and deep connection to land and to sea and to water.

Although I spent merely a decade and a half of my childhood on our farm and on that country, I have no trouble understanding First Nations people's deep connection to country. For me it was a connection borne of a mere century of occupation and a short three generations. I don't compare that short experience and attachment to country with the deep legacy of thousands of years lived on country by First Nations people. But I live in awe of the kind of connection to country that exists for First Nations people, arising from their custodianship over thousands of years and hundreds of generations.

I'm delighted to be making this contribution with Uncle Major 'Moogy' Sumner with us. Uncle Moogy was my Senate running mate in 2022. I didn't know until then that when we were both 11, Uncle Moogy lived just 120 kilometres away. And, while I was enjoying all the freedoms of farm life, his family were required to have a pass to travel by bus from Raukkan at the Coorong to Adelaide, where their movements were tightly constrained as they collected clothes and blankets. Uncle Moogy has taken me and so many others to Raukkan to tell that history for truth-telling. I acknowledge and thank Uncle Moogy and his Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna community, and, indeed, all South Australia's First Nations communities for their great generosity in telling us of this painful and unequal history. It is never too late to tell the truth of our past.

This legacy is, of course, not behind us as we engage in this important new conversation about truth, treaty and voice—and as we come to the Voice in this bill. When I've asked Uncle Moogy about the voice, treaty and truth, he has spoken of the need to come together, to walk together, to create a new voice for First Nations South Australians and to celebrate the culture, contribution and the past and future of our place and our people. When Uncle Moogy welcomes us to Kaurna land, his mother's country, he calls up all our ancestors—from all directions—to come together in respect and to guide our meeting for good, to take away bad energy and to help us work together to build a better future for all of us. We could have done with some of that energy in recent days in this place.

Constitutional recognition of First Nations people is a first step. It is our duty, it is long overdue and it is essential. And we need to do more than that. We have to ensure that First Nations Australians have a clear voice into this parliament and into parliaments across our country. There are too many examples of the failure to listen.

In South Australia, as I speak, First Nations people are in the Federal Court contesting a decision by the previous coalition, now being joined by Labor, to build a nuclear waste dump on their land—the land of Barngarla people near Kimba—without their consent and, indeed, without the consent of most South Australians. The Barngarla people have yet to be consulted, a decision that compounds the awful history and intergenerational trauma of British nuclear testing at Maralinga and at Emu Field on country then actually occupied by First Nations people—a trauma with consequences that reach across the decades to today. In October this year we celebrate, we mark and we remember 70 years ago when the nuclear testing occurred—we do not celebrate it; we remember it—at Emu Field and the long consequences which were drawn to this parliament's attention this week by a visit of First Nations people and veterans from that country, who told us about the intergenerational legacy of this terrible testing. That is why we need a voice, and we need a voice that is heard.

We are overdue for recognition of Australia's First Nations peoples in our Constitution and for a real voice for them in all the matters that affect their lives, including in relation to nuclear waste dumping. We must create this Voice, and, most importantly, we must listen to those voices and do no fresh harm by ignoring their wishes and their connection to country. We are not honestly facing the truth of our past if we fail to respectfully listen now and create that Voice and amend our Constitution to recognise First Nations people.

We are a better country for telling the truth of our history and hearing the invitation at the heart of the Uluru statement, which, I'm proud to say, the Greens were the first party to support in full, and which, I'm often told, so many South Australians passionately support: 'Tell the truth, create treaties and ensure a First Nations voice to our parliaments, rooted in the truth.' The Uluru Statement from the Heart brought together First Nations people from across the country to reckon with the past and create a better future. The statement provides a powerful call for action to the whole country. It says:

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.

The Greens support progressing all three calls to action in the Uluru statement: truth-telling, treaty-making and the Voice. The Voice is just one part of the story. A successful referendum will be the start of decades of change for First Nations people, as we move towards truth-telling, treaty-making and self-determination. This proposal for change comes after many years of other kinds of effort and many disappointments. The Barunga Statement of 1988 calls on the Commonwealth parliament to create a treaty recognising First Nations' prior ownership, continued occupation and sovereignty. Bob Hawke committed the Australian government to delivering that treaty, but it never happened.

What we need now is action. That is the responsibility of every one of us, all of us, as we go to vote, from Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in remote communities, our regional centres and our cities to the decision-makers in government. First Nations people have answers to the challenges that impact on their lives, and the Voice to Parliament will allow those answers to be heard. Securing a 'yes' vote at the referendum will recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this continent by establishing a body that has a say on matters that affect us—all of us.

We have an opportunity to change things for First Nations people in this country, and that means a better country for all of us—for all who grow up here and for all the kids to come. They can live a life with full knowledge of our history, all the history, which includes progress towards treaties that recognise First Nations' prior occupation and gives a voice to First Nations people—a voice that is heard and a voice from the oldest living culture in the world. This must be a unifying moment for all Australians.

South Australia has already taken its first clear steps to achieve that goal. I'm proud that our state has moved ahead and proud of the very moving ceremonies—some of which were led by Uncle Moogy, welcoming us to his mother's country. They were widely participated in by so many citizens in our state. South Australia became the first state in March to legislate a First Nations voice to parliament, and, in the wake of the bill passing parliament, Uncle Moogy said, 'First Nations people have got to have a voice right across the country—a say in everything, from land care to health outcomes.'

This country is changing, and I stand with my fellow Greens senators and so many others, like the majority of South Australians, who want a different future. We want to come to terms with how we all came here. We want a country that treats people fairly and faces up to disadvantage—one where everyone's voices are listened to. It's an opportunity for treaty, for truth-telling and for voice. We must reckon with the truth of our history and move forward together through treaty and through that voice and constitutional recognition. That is the only viable path.