Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Stewart, for your question. I certainly am, as I said previously, deeply honoured to be the new Minister for Indigenous Australians, taking the baton from the Hon. Linda Burney MP. It has been certainly wonderful to walk beside her, throughout our eight years together, with her as our shadow minister in opposition but then as the minister in the last couple of years, and also with former senator Pat Dodson—a terrific duo to have worked with.

It was at Garma that Denise Bowden from the Yothu Yindi Foundation used the words 'soul crushing' for the people who'd worked so hard in the referendum campaign. We know the Gumatj leaders commended the Prime Minister for his courage in taking forward the referendum, and they gave him the sacred ganiny. It is a source of strength and power. That ceremony that took place at Gulkula was the first time it had been publicly shown, in terms of the Prime Minister, and it was about the strength and power that he had to take this forward. He had made a commitment, and they thanked him for that. As Djawa Yunupingu said at Garma, we do 'look forward and not back'. That's what I will be doing: working hard to move forward together. We will work in partnership with First Nations communities and organisations and state and territory governments to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have the same opportunities and life outcomes as our fellow Australians.

While in Garma, the PM outlined economic development as a key priority because it's through being able to participate in the economy that we will create better futures. We signed a new partnership agreement with the Northern Territory government and the Yothu Yindi Foundation, investing $20 million from the Aboriginal Benefits Account to build the Garma Institute, a new tertiary and vocational education centre owned and run by the Yolngu. This builds on our new school-funding commitment to the NT signed by Minister Clare.