It has been a hard road for First Nations Peoples in Australia since the devastation of the 2023 Referendum. That being said, a couple of recent events have me feeling somewhat more optimistic about the future for our people.
Following a recent yarn with the Uluru Dialogue leadership, I am more convinced than ever of the need to ‘stay true to Uluru’ (the Uluru Statement from the Heart). Whilst still in a mode of deep reflection and analysis of the events of the 2023 referendum – where we went right and where we went wrong – it’s clear that it is time for First Nations Peoples and allies to roll our sleeves back up and get on with the unfinished business of reconciliation. I have no doubt that our First Nations communities and leadership is ready to do this work; what is less clear to me is where the rest of the nation stands on the matter. We saw 6.2 million Australians vote in solidarity with mob on 14 October 2023; this point should be given significant weight. Yet I can’t help but find myself wondering how many of the 6.2 million that voted ‘yes’ now share the outrage at the injustice of the outcome, and perhaps more importantly, how many of the 6.2 million yes voters have taken any form of action in the name of justice for Australia’s First Peoples since ticking that box.
For certain, the road to reconciliation/self-determination/justice (however you wish to conceive of the end goal) for our people will not be without its obstacles. Nonetheless, I am confident that once First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians clutch the proverbial steering wheel with both hands, we will find ourselves charting a sensible course on the road to Uluru. My hope is that this journey – one of belonging and togetherness for our nation – is a journey of years not decades, and one that will not see my jarjums/buraays (children) picking up the same fights for Voice, Treaty and Truth that I have inherited from my Elders and olders.
During a NAIDOC Week event in QLD, Megan Davis, a Cobble Cobble woman, constitutional scholar and one of the lead architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, highlighted to listeners that:
it’s okay to feel sad and to feel cynical and pessimistic, a lot of our mob do… but it’s not okay to give up… we owe that to our ancestors and we owe it to our jarjums.
Megan goes on to refer to the Uluru Statement not as a “First Nations thing” but as “an Australian thing”, highlighting that one of the biggest challenges that we face, is to figure out how to “push for progress without alienating those who aren’t yet on our team”.
Many (I imagine most) Australians feel uncomfortable engaging with First Nations people, history and culture – being matters that are entirely ‘unfamiliar’ to the average Australian. Many Australians also undoubtedly find it hard to know how to connect with First Nations Peoples in an honest and meaningful way. It certainly doesn’t help that most of us are extremely time and resource poor these days, unable or unwilling to extend ourselves beyond the basics. However, if we are ever going to ‘Change the Record’ for First Nations Peoples in Australia, we must find a way to move past our socio-cultural anxieties, we must find ways of forming genuine connections with ‘others’ (particularly those within our local communities), and we have no choice but to invest our time and energy into more than ourselves and our immediate circumstances. I believe that we must redefine our relationship to self and surroundings, finding greater meaning in our sense of place and drawing greater purpose and responsibility from our community/ies, in order to create a better future for ourselves and future generations.
Just as we must reconcile with the truth of ‘white Australia’s black history’, we must equally orient ourselves towards a shared future, one where we are all part of culturally diverse, equitable, environmentally sustainable and thriving communities. No more is the importance of this shift more evident than in respect to combating climate change. It is going to take widespread egalitarian thinking, community-oriented individual action and global-scale collective movements to tackle the climate crisis, which is a real and growing threat to all of our futures. Yet by speaking out against inequality and injustice, and by redefining what it means to ‘belong’ within our communities, together I am confident that we can and will chart a new and better course for our nation.
I believe that the stronger First Nations communities are in Australia, the more likely we will be to see a positive transformation in our wider societal value systems. However, I only see genuine empowerment of First Nations Peoples occurring after a significant redistribution of power and resources between First Nations and non-Indigenous communities. By extension, I believe that necessary redistributive justice measures will only be possible following transformational systemic and structural government reforms, and nation-wide treaty making and truth-telling processes. Unless governments in Australia are prepared to work with First Nations Peoples in new community-led, culturally responsive, and dare I say post-colonial ways, ‘closing the gap’ will continue to be a pipe dream for our people.
In respect of treaty-making processes between First Nations Peoples and governments in Australia, I had the recent honour of observing state-based treaty discussions being led by the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria. The Assembly is an independent body that was democratically elected to represent Traditional Owners of Country and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in state-based treaty discussions in Victoria. On 16 July 2024, the Assembly notified the Treaty Authority in Victoria that they were ready to negotiate a statewide treaty. As the Assembly approaches the beginning of treaty negotiations proper, it is important that First Nations Peoples and allies continue advocating for progress on treaty making processes across the nation.
It is encouraging that unprecedented progress is being made towards treaty in Victoria, with other treaty processes on foot in QLD (with the First Nations Treaty Institute), the Northern Territory (with ongoing community consultations), and to a lesser extent in NSW. However, without bipartisan support, there is a real and palpable risk that treaty processes will fail before they even get off the ground.
During the 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum campaign, we saw the disastrous impact that party politics can have on major civic processes. Unfortunately, since then we have seen a continuing of this trend, with various conservative political parties withdrawing their support for treaty processes. Not only this, but the Australian Government has gone all but silent on the Uluru Statement from the Heart, seemingly scrapping the idea of a Makarrata Commission – a national body proposed to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations Peoples in Australia, and truth-telling about our shared history.
In the 2024-25 Federal Budget, the Government redirected $5.8M previously allocated for the establishment of a Makarrata Commission. More recently, the Albanese Government has reframed its commitment to a Makarrata Commission by speaking about it only in the literal Yolŋu sense of the word ‘Makarrata’ – as ‘a coming together after a struggle’. In his recent speech at the Garma Festival in East Arnhem Land, the Prime Minister seemed to be suggesting that the Government’s ‘business as usual’ approach to First Nations affairs was essentially his government making good on their promise to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart. In contrast, the Australian Greens have tabled a Bill that, if successful, would see the establishment of a national Truth and Justice Commission. This Commission as proposed, would inquire into historical and ongoing injustices against First Nations Peoples and make recommendations to Parliament. Like the Yoorrook Justice Commission in Victoria, the national Truth and Justice Commission would have the status and powers of a royal commission. Greens First Nations spokesperson, Senator Dorinda Cox says that the national Truth and Justice Commission would:
give a voice to First Nations Peoples, and support processes for the first time that would record our rich and vibrant culture and heritage in both pre and post-colonial times… [this] would allow us to move towards righting the wrongs of the past and healing as a nation.
If you haven’t already, you might consider making a submission to the Parliament of Australia’s Inquiry into the Truth and Justice Commission Bill 2024. The submission deadline is Friday 20 September 2024 and our team has prepared a guide to assist you with the process. Without whole-of-government and widespread community support for treaty making and truth-telling, such processes risk being subject to the same fate as the referendum. And absent treaties and truth, First Nations Peoples will surely continue to be subject to the torment of their powerlessness in a country that they have possessed under their own lores and customs for more than 60+ millenia.
Whilst I see a brighter future for First Nations Peoples in Australia – one where we take our rightful place as enduring Custodians of our own Country – we’re certainly not there yet. We have a great deal of hard and transformative work to be done, First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians alike. I do, however, believe that once the majority of Australians look beyond our apparent differences (whether real, socialised or imagined), once we reconcile with our history, reshape our contemporary values of community and find our shared places of belonging and unity, we will see the change envisaged by the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Indeed, we will walk together ‘in a movement of the Australian people for a better future’ for us all.
