Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make some remarks about the 50th anniversary of the election to this place of Neville Bonner, who was the first Indigenous person to become a federal parliamentarian. Bonner became involved with politics from the 1967 referendum, which Harold Holt conducted successfully. He was handing out how-to-vote cards on referendum day when he was asked by Bill Hayden why he was helping out with the Liberals. I think that annoyed him, so he subsequently decided that he would become a Liberal parliamentarian. Good on him.

He was a great historical figure, and he served in the Senate for 12 years. In his first speech, he said:

Less than 200 years ago the white man came … my people were shot, poisoned, hanged and broken in spirit until they became refugees in their own land. But that is history and we take care now of the present while … we look to the future.

I think that is a very fine sentiment as we reflect upon the 50th anniversary of Bonner's contribution. To their great credit, an organisation called Uphold & Recognise worked with Bonner's family to produce a video they released last week, which was funded by Mr Greg O'Neill of the La Trobe Financial foundation. It is a very good summary of Bonner's political contributions.

Finally, I thank everyone involved—Ben Morton, Nola Marino and some other people in the government—for putting in place a statue of Bonner that will be unveiled next year. It is very much overdue. A journalist from the Sydney Morning Herald, Rob Harris, has been running a campaign on this since it emerged that there were more statues of dogs in Canberra than there were of women and Indigenous people. So we look forward to seeing the statue of Bonner, and I hope that in the future we can also see people like Charles Perkins and Eddie Mabo recognised here in Canberra.