Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill.

Leave granted.

I table an explanatory memorandum and seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

The speech read as follows—

Today I commend this Bill to the Senate, a Bill to establish a Truth and Justice Commission to record historic and ongoing injustices against First Peoples in Australia.

As the Australian Greens First Nations portfolio holder, I have heard calls from First Nations people and allies right across our diverse and vibrant country. They are asking for the establishment of formal truth telling processes to record and reconcile our nation's pre-colonial, past and current stories and history.

In my first speech to this parliament three years ago, I addressed the urgent need for change in how we understood our nation's history. I said that we needed to go further than a debate or a conversation in this place. In 3 years, my sentiments have not changed.

The Greens are leading this work as Australia's new chapter for the healing of our nation and charting a positive future for all. Building Truth and Justice as a central tenet of the way we see and shape our next generation's knowledge and understanding.

For us as First peoples this story has existed for time immemorial, before the seas rose and we became an island nation. We are Australia's First Peoples, people who have the world's oldest living continuous culture—over 65,000 years of connection to land, waterways, language and people that have survived the evolution of the world's harshest conditions and circumstances.

As a proud Yamatji Noongar woman, names are given to my tribal groups through the legislated native title process, but they are in fact the Wajarri and Bibbulmun—my language groups. My Indigeneity comes from the Amangu, Wajarri, Yued and Kangiyang clans in the South West and Midwest/Gascoyne regions of Western Australia.

I was raised to be a proud and strong Yamatji Noongar woman by my household, community and extended family. My identity was always reaffirmed through the exchange of knowledge, protocols and responsibilities, that continued to be the foundation of my connection to country, language, kin and culture.

This has not always been the story for First Peoples in our country.

Before the tall ships arrived here in 1788 and introduced policies and legislation that removed our rights, our people celebrated a strong and vibrant culture and connection to lands, waterways and kinship.

My family has survived 5 generations of this legislative regime that strived to break these fundamental connections of our identity, removal from country and kin, introduction of English language and the restrictions of our movements and economic independence.

Therein lies the story which Australian systems have chosen to tell, that Terra Nullius framed to erase any evidence of our existing land over which no previous sovereignty has been exercised, which was found to be untrue. We have never ceded these rights.

This triumphant moment was the work of Torres Strait Islander man Eddie "Koko" Mabo, and this work continues today as we fight to prove our connection to our traditional lands, waters and sea country through the Native Title Act.

These important processes of the Truth and Justice Commission will allow us to formally record, teach and reinforce that we have strong and proud indigenous peoples who were the first chapter of our nation's story.

We are stranded as a nation, suspended in time—waiting for action. Through the yearning of wanting peace and harmony that form the pillars of our values as a nation, this story continues to cast doubt over our true "discovery" and therefore shapes Australian history taught in our schools, on show in our museums and reinforced through our media and democracy.

In this place we are the nation's leaders. We can not just simply acknowledge the country we live and work on as a token gesture, stand at our press conferences, make speeches, use campaign slogans and make hollow statements that have never translated to outcomes or action to challenge the systems and structures which are the consequences of historical injustices for First Nations people.

We've all heard this Government and successive governments who have spoken about truth telling through Royal Commissions, inquiries and debates.

We've also seen so many declarations, bark petitions and many other generous offerings given by First Nations people all remaining largely unfulfilled, and which, to many of us are the stark representation of failure and lost opportunity, which amount to a lack of political will.

We all come to this place, with purpose, vision, commitment and determination to deliver change and I have heard this in every first speech since joining the Senate in 2021. My question still remains largely unanswered—why are we not listening to the voices of First Nations people and the 5 million Australians who through the referendum last year voted for change.

What I heard from those who voted no in this referendum, they did so on the abstract idea of a Voice to Parliament, maybe some were unaware of its purpose or relevancy to the work we do to ensure laws in Australia are debated to improve the lives of our First Peoples based on their lived experiences and to ensure the ongoing legacies and past mistakes are not repeated.

This is why these truth telling processes must be led by First Nations people and communities, to tell our truths in our native tongue, through our worldview and the experiences of our old people. The recording of these experiences must be through trauma-informed and culturally safe processes that address misinformation, that seek to reframe our systems and commence our collective healing journey.

The Greens were one of the first political parties to pledge our commitment to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart. I would like to honour the work of my predecessor WA Greens Senator Rachel Siewert who through her leadership as a former portfolio holder for First Nations issues in our party, paved the way for this incredibly important work to continue and for it to be reflected in this Bill.

I would also like to thank the Co-chairs of the Statement from the Heart—all those who have worked and all other contributors.

This week, our new Governor-General mentioned Mr Pearson in addressing the "three-part portrait" which frames who we are as a nation.

But let us not forget that Noel Pearson also said the following:

"We demand after 65,000 years that the events of the last 200 do not erase the old Australia that was ours."

One year on from the referendum, it is now time for us to build the pathway forward to create a formal independent body for Truth. Our vision for this work is grounded in the key principles of self determination and sovereignty. This work builds on our work in the referendum campaign in which we harnessed the goodwill of approximately 6 million people nationally who supported the quest for First Nations voices and rights.

Having Australia's first Truth and Justice Commission—an independent, trauma informed and culturally safe body—to collect and record the range of diverse experiences of Australia's First Peoples reaffirms our commitment. Through this Bill we are bringing an important national conversation to the Parliament and are engaging Australia to boldly move us forward collectively as a nation and build a pathway to a Federal Treaty.

There are important personal and collective actions that Australians take that include understanding the starting position we take as First Nations people, from a direct quote shared by a participant in the "Coming to terms with the past" report: "I try to get people to understand that it's coming from the heart, what I'm telling, and I charge non-Aboriginal people with a responsibility of listening and learning… We don't make this stuff up."

I extend the invitation for all Non-Indigenous Australians to join us on this journey to deeply connect and listen, to work with First Nations people to respectfully understand our shared history and to create an intergenerational project of change. We all have a role to play when it comes to truth-telling, which is also not possible without truth listening.

This is supported by recent polling conducted by the UNSW and Reconciliation Australia "Coming to terms with the past" report "which states that 94 percent of non-Indigenous Australians are motivated to participate in truth-telling to learn about the ongoing impacts of the past on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today."

In order for this work to be successful there will be some uncomfortable conversations, but these are crucial in informing systemic changes required for healing and justice, including education—this a powerful and transformative legacy.

"The Uluru Statement also shares the knowledge of Makarrata, a word from the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land. As Noel Pearson says: 'The Yolngu concept of Makarrata captures the idea of two parties coming together after a struggle, and healing the divisions of the past. It is about acknowledging that something has been done wrong, and it seeks to make things right.'"

The unfinished business of Australia's nationhood must include recognising the ancient jurisdictions of First Nations law and we must recognise the fight of our old people. The continuing connection between language, the culture, the land and the enduring nature of First Peoples' law are fundamental to First Nations sovereignty.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.