Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before moving a motion relating to former senator Neville Bonner, I seek leave to add the names of Senator Abetz, Senator Scullion and Senator Macdonald to this motion.

Leave granted.

I, and also on behalf of Senator Abetz, Senator Macdonald, Senator Moore, Senator Rhiannon, Senator Scullion and Senator Waters, move:

That the Senate—

  (a)   notes that:

     (i)   2011 is the 40th anniversary of the appointment of Australia's first Aboriginal senator, Mr Neville Bonner AO, who served as a senator for the state of Queensland from 1971 to 1983, and

     (ii)   it is also the 50th anniversary of the establishment of South Tweed Heads reserve, which is both the site of Senator Bonner's birth and a sacred site to the Minjungbal people; and

  (b)   acknowledges:

     (i)   the vital role of Senator Bonner, as the first Aboriginal member of Federal Parliament, in providing a voice to Aboriginal people and bridging the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, and

     (ii)   the important work of Ms Margaret Kay, who in 1961 led the efforts to preserve the historic site of South Tweed Heads at a time when the conservation of places of Aboriginal cultural heritage was rare.

Question agreed to.