Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the incredible things about being commissioned by your community to be their voice here in this place is the very space in which we do the work of the community: Parliament House. One of the jewels of Parliament House—one of the bits that remind you how lucky we are to share this space on behalf of the community—is that it is filled with some of the best examples of Australian art that can be found anywhere. It constantly comes as a shock to me that there is so often a conversation that questions the fundamental value of art and creativity and dismisses it in this place, when we work every day in a building that is made so much better by the presence of so much incredible creativity.

One painting which always grabs my attention every time I pass it is the 'Big Picture', as it is known—the Tom Roberts painting, completed in 1903, depicting the Federation of Australia and the coming together of the Australian nation in Melbourne at the commencement of the First Parliament. What always sticks with me when I look at that picture—why I can never just roll on by—is that it shows you so clearly what was present at the founding of the Australian nation and what was not—who was being brought into the Australian project and who was not. There are a lot of very wealthy, very privileged, remarkably white folks in that picture. There are almost no women, and there are no people of colour to be spoken of in the audience in the Great Hall.

If you go down to one of the Senate committee rooms, you also pass a painting that was painted in 2001 for the Centenary of Federation, 100 years later, and that too captures a kind of restaging of the scene. Once again, you look at the crowd there. Though you do see more women, and though I am sure there were people of colour present, there are a shocking number of white dudes in that painting—absolutely stunning. It contrasts so strikingly with the reality of the Australian community.

We do tell a very white story about the foundation, so-called, of Australia upon the lands of First Nations people. We tell a story that often privileges the narratives of white blokes as they tamed a vacant country. That's the mythology that is often passed down. That's the mythology captured in a lot of these paintings. It's not true. You want to see evidence of it? Come to WA. Look at the histories of the Afghan cameleers in the Kimberley, for instance. But it is true that the Australian nation was founded predominantly to function for and be governed by and to the benefit of a white ruling class.

Next to these embodiments of the reality of our history, I had a remarkable experience yesterday. I had the honour of sharing time and space with over 50 young people from all parts of this country who had come to Parliament House as part of the UN Youth Project, led by the ambassador, Kareem El-Ansary, an incredible activist and youth communicator. It brought together a report capturing over 10,000 young people's engagement across 50 different locations across Australia—amazing. The diversity, energy and enthusiasm in that room was what we need to see more greatly depicted in this place, and I hope to see a parliament soon that looks like them.