
Issue No 16		04 June 1999

Trades Hall

Dierdre Mahoney on Reconciliation - Where to Now?

On the eve of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation launching its draft document for reconciliation, a group of concerned citizens met at the State Library in Sydney's Macquarie Street to talk about what would happen when the Council disbanded.


	Special Projects Officer Deirdre Mahoney

Organised by ANTaR (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation), the Forging a New Relationship seminar was held on 2 June during Reconciliation Week, and was attended by indigenous and non-indigenous Australians alike (1967 referendum activist Faith Bandler and NSW Governor Gordon Samuels were among the audience).

The seminar took place in the context of the 10-year lifespan of CAR approaching its end. It was set up in 1991 as one of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, with a brief of coming up with a formal reconciliation document which would become law by the centenary of Federation in 2001. The seminar looked at questions of where both indigenous and non-indigenous Australians want to be heading.

The welcome to country was made on behalf of the extinct Eora people by a member of the Dharawul people of La Perouse in absentia.

Keynote speaker Peter Yu, of the Kimberley Land Council, reminded conference delegates that diversity of opinion was just as much an issue within the indigenous community as it was in the rest of the Australian community, and this highlighted the importance of parties working together. He was the first of many of the day's speakers to highlight the fact that reconciliation was a people's movement that would progress no matter what.

The seminar also heard from Dr Sarah Pritchard, who helped develop the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She spoke about the importance of self-determination, and also taking one step at a time.

Former Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Cmn chair Sir Ronald Wilson, who co-authored the Bringing Them Home report into the Stolen generations with former HREOC Social Justice Cmr Mick Dodson, lobbied enthusiastically for CAR's term to be extended a couple more years, so no hasty decisions would be made. He also questioned why we would be voting on a preamble before we even had a new constitution, and urged caution here also.

Sir Ronald spoke in place of Mick Dodson, who was unable to attend. But the week before, at the Friends of Tranby [Aboriginal College] dinner held in Sydney on 28 May, Dodson had spoken of the tolls of leadership. He said while leaders were very rarely born, because they needed the wisdom, courage and humility that generally only comes with life experience, to be born aboriginal was to be born an activist. He said many non-indigenous activists had also joined the reconciliation cause, not because they believed life was about obligation, but rather because it should be about opportunity.

In this, he foreshadowed the draft reconciliation document, which was handed down on 3 June at the Sydney Opera House. The draft will now be open for consultation for the next six months, and CAR expects to hand down a final document next May. Those interested in finding out more can search CAR's website, at www.austlii.edu.au/car/

The draft reconciliation document:

Speaking with one voice, we the people of Australia, of many origins as we are, make a commitment to go on together recognising the gift of one another's presence.

We value the unique status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the original owners and custodians of traditional lands and waters.

We respect and recognise continuing customary laws, beliefs and traditions.

And through the land and its first peoples, we may taste this spirituality and rejoice in its grandeur.

We acknowledge this land was colonised without the consent of the original inhabitants.

Our nation must have the courage to own the truth, to heal the wounds of its past so that we can move on together at peace with ourselves.

And so we take this step: as one part of the nation expresses its sorrow and profoundly regrets the injustices of the past, so the other part accepts the apology and forgives.

Our new journey then begins. We must learn our shared history, walk together and grow together to enrich our understanding.

We desire a future where all Australians enjoy equal rights and share opportunities and responsibilities according to their aspirations.

And so, we pledge ourselves to stop injustice, address disadvantage, and respect the right of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to determine their own destinies.

Therefore, we stand proud as a united Australia that respects this land of ours, values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, and provides justice and equity for

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Issue 16 contents

Interview: Opening Australia
Lindsay Tanner talks about new ideas, new policy and new politics in the Information Age.

Unions: An Educated Fightback
A visiting US trade unionist reveals how training better union delegates is the key to reversing the membership slide.

Legal: A Fair Case for Free-Rider Laws
The proposal to enable unions to charge non-members a service fee for negotiating enterprise agreements is consistent with the principle of freedom of association.

History: New Ideas in Labour History
See the latest from the May issue of Labour History, A Journal of Labour and Social History.

International: Tiananmen Square Ten Years On
We remember the massacre and the role that working people continue to play in fighting injustice.

Review: Organising Our Future - What Use the US??
A new paper looks at what Australian unions can learn from the experiences of their American colleagues.

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» Braddy Bunch to Lift Contractor Veil

» Rural Redundacies - Redeployment Confusion Reigns

» Woolies Shopfitters Win Back Jobs From Body Hire

» Political Payback: NSW Targetted in Costello Cuts

» Rio Tinto Buries the Truth

» Child Care Campaign out of the Blocks

» East Timor Mercy Ship heads for Dili

» Fabian Society Reforms

» Industrial Whoï¿½s Who Head for Geneva