Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

Following the failed Voice referendum, the Albanese Government must fulfil their promise to First Peoples in this country by progressing Truth and Treaty in this term of government.

The war and genocidal project against First Peoples has never ended. This war continues with different weapons and tools of oppression: mass incarceration, over-policing of communities, child removals and creating conditions that make life seem too hard to keep living. First Peoples and people of colour live the ongoing impacts of this war every day. We bore the brunt of it during the racism that flourished from the referendum campaign. The bare minimum this government owes to First Peoples is to fulfil its commitment to truth and treaty. Last week, the Call It Out racism register proved what every person of colour knows—that racism festers in every corner of this colony, on the streets and in workplaces, schools, health-care services, police stations, courts, government agencies and business.

The nation-state of Australia's illegitimate claim to political sovereignty is founded upon racist beliefs. Public health studies have proved the impact that this has on the physical and mental health of First Peoples and people of colour. It is a disease that erodes the fabric of our society, killing our lands and waters, keeping First Peoples and refugees of colour locked up and tearing children away from their families and culture. In the words of the multitalented poet and Wiradjuri-Gamilaraay woman Lorna Munro: 'We are invested in a colonial system of governance that is unable to cater to our need for humanity, society, community and ecological level. Our governance systems did not go anywhere. Everyone will talk about doomsday climate change, but no-one wants to talk about the systems of government required to achieve that stability.' This is why it is important to tell the truth of this place, because, in order for us to heal ourselves from this disease, we have to start by understanding how we got here and how the systems of governance that have been built in this colony do so much harm to all of us and our environment.

This land has a black history. We have the stories of how things were before the colonisers arrived and what has happened since. Conversations about this history used to happen in black spaces only, but, more and more often, people are starting to explore this history and ask the important questions around dinner tables and in classrooms. 'How did your ancestors arrive here? What role did they play in the colonial occupation and dispossession of First Peoples of these lands? What is the history of the place you actually live and work?' There are hard but necessary conversations that we need to have. Black power in this country is strong and growing, and more and more people are learning its black history and embracing a black future that works for everyone. From a new shared understanding, we can build new systems of government that respect the political sovereignty of First Peoples and are grounded in care and custodianship for each other and the environment. This system is one that nurtures and thinks about transformative ideas of justice, where we no longer need prisons and detention centres and where healthy country and healthy people are not sacrificed for the profit of a few. We have done so before, and we can create it again for all of us. This can be done through a treaty process—one that incorporates all 250-plus language groups. This cannot just be a federal or state issue. It is all of our responsibility across all systems of governance, from the bottom to the top. This change will happen, and it will need a lot of energy, love, care and community. It would happen a lot faster, and with far less pain and suffering for everyone, if everyone in this chamber supported the real truth in this country.