Patrick Dodson (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to say a few words about the late Archie Roach. I remember sitting under my bower shed in Broome with Mr Bill Johnston, the late British actor Pete Postlethwaite and Archie. Archie and Pete had been on a journey of discovery in the Kimberley. They'd camped out in the desert with the Ngurra native title claimants and witnessed the senior leaders painting a huge canvas depicting their country. All night the elders sang songs of their country and its significance. They walked across the old Fitzroy River crossing and heard the stories of Jandamarra, the famous Bunuba warrior, his deeds against the encroaching pastoralists and the police posses out to kill him for he had shot one of them. These were the stories of the killing times in the Kimberley being told to Archie and Peter.

These were travels undertaken after meeting in Perth with Bill Johnston and his family and learning of the brutal murder of Bill's adopted Aboriginal son, Louis St John Johnston, by British backpackers, who used a vehicle instead of horses in the killing. We were all working on a documentary, called Liyarn Ngarn, on how the two stories of our encounters with each other might come together and make us as one and free us from our ignorance, fears and prejudices—trying to expose truth about the events in our historical and contemporary relationships. It involved AFL footballer Michael Long and his reflections on his courageous walk from Melbourne to Canberra. Having attended too many funerals and sorry days. Michael put to the Prime Minister, Mr Howard: 'Where is the love for my people?'

Liyarn Ngarn was a song that Archie composed. The underpinning rhythm was, 'Come together, because we've already been too far apart.' Farewell, my friend.

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Following on from Senator Dodson, I took would like to pay my respects to the late Archie Roach and give my sympathies and condolences to his extended family. What an incredible human being he was. What an amazing musician he was. What an incredible contribution he made to Australia and, indeed, the world. His music and art had a power that transcends so many others. It had the power to tell the truth about the history of this nation. It had the power to enlist understanding and empathy. It had the power to force us to think about how others are feeling, how they've been treated, and to inspire the action we need to respond. This is the transformative power of music and art.

I also want to make a contribution today in relation to all artists and musicians who are struggling in this country, who have struggled for far too long under years of ignorance and a lack of support from the previous government, and call on the new government not to simply put them in the later basket or the too-hard basket but to actually act now to support the arts industry here in this country. It desperately needs a helping hand, whether for insurance for live events, investment in our cultural institutions or the ability to have a seat at the table.

As we lead into the budget in October, many people will be looking on and hoping that this government does better and more than the last. But it means bringing artists to the table and talking directly with them about what they need to continue their power, their truth-telling, their storytelling— (Time expired)