Minister for Indigenous Australians
Minister Wyatt:
Mr Speaker,
I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people, on whose land we gather today. I pay my respect to their elders, past, present and emerging.
I also acknowledge my Indigenous parliamentary colleagues. The Hon. Member for Barton Linda Burney, Senator Patrick Dodson, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, Senator Thorpe, Senator Lambie and Senator Cox.
We are few but our numbers are growing, and the work we do here matters enormously.
And I acknowledge the members and families of the Stolen Generations across this nation – no matter where they are.
Yesterday marked the 14th anniversary of the formal apology to the Stolen Generations, offered by then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on behalf of the Australian Government. As a child of the Stolen Generations, to hear our Government acknowledge the tremendous wrongs committed against our people was profound.
The Apology stopped the nation, and asked all Australians to imagine that feeling of loss, and collectively affirm that what happened should never have happened.
Together, we said sorry. And we are still sorry.
The significance of being an Indigenous man, delivering a Ministerial Statement in National Parliament to honour that apology 14 years later, is not lost on me.
My Indigenous colleagues and I are testament to the enduring strength and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Of 65,000 years of culture. Of 65,000 years of survival.
While the acknowledgement of wrongdoing can ease some of the suffering, it will never remove it.
Today, those who were taken, and their descendants, are rebuilding. They are having families of their own, preserving and continuing culture, and protecting and nurturing country.
They seek to repair the irreplaceable loss of love, community, culture, language and identity that was brought about through the actions of the Stolen Generations.
I continue to tell my story, and my mother’s – the story of how she spent years in Roelands Mission near Bunbury in Western Australia.
How she and her nine brothers and sisters were taken from their parents, and split between three different missions, hundreds of miles apart.
It’s a story I’ve heard from other survivors.
Over the past two weeks I’ve visited the Northern Territory, Tasmania and New South Wales – and I’ve been humbled to connect with survivors of the Stolen Generations.
I sat with them and listened.
Yesterday, on the anniversary of the Apology, I shared breakfast up in Newcastle with survivors of the Kinchela Boys Home.
Number 11, Lester Maher.
Number 12, Roger Jarrett.
Number 28, Richard Campbell.
Number 36, Michael Welsh.
Known only by a number in the Boys Home. Their identity and culture was torn away.
We yarned. And shared our truths. The truth about what happened at Kinchela.
The trauma experienced is, for some, unspeakable. For others, telling their story continues to be an important part of their healing.
This is truth-telling. It’s personal. Raw. Within living memory. It’s a truth that we should never forget.
And it’s why truth-telling is so vital.
The Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme – which will begin on the 1st of March – will be significant for the Indigenous Australians removed from the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay.
As well as the financial payments, the support package includes significant wellbeing support to ensure it is delivered in a survivor-focused, trauma-informed and culturally sensitive way.
This morning, I announced that through this Scheme, survivors will have access to free legal advice and free financial counselling from independent support services.
The scheme will be guided by an External Advisory Board, co-chaired by the Healing Foundation and the National Indigenous Australians Agency, and comprising Stolen Generations representatives and organisations, and trauma specialists.
I met with the Board this morning; and I know that they will guide the implementation of this Scheme with great dignity and respect for our people.
Together, with the schemes run by the states, it will be part of our national journey toward healing and reconciliation.
The Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme is one way that we ensure the National Apology delivered 14 years ago is not mere symbolism.
Powerful words must be followed by practical action.
The Stolen Generations lost their childhoods, their connections to family, country and culture. We cannot give back lost childhoods.
Today, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are being empowered to help shape and make the decisions that matter in their lives.
It acknowledges that Government doesn’t always know best, and that our strength lies in our people.
A strength that is the bedrock of the oldest continuous living culture on this planet.
Throughout my time in this place, and as Minister for Indigenous Australians, I am most proud of our efforts to empower Indigenous Australians – be it through the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, the development of an Indigenous Voice or the National Roadmap for Indigenous Skills, Jobs and Wealth Creation – I have set out to change the way Indigenous Australians work with their governments. Not just here in Canberra, but in every corner of our nation.
We are seeing this permeate through other States and Territories.
Last Friday, I met with New South Wales Premier, Dominic Perrottet.
Like our Prime Minister, he has committed his government to take meaningful steps.
A balance of powerful, symbolic measures, backed by practical action that will make a real difference in peoples’ lives.
Freeing the Aboriginal Flag. Flying it atop the Harbour Bridge.
Building Ngurra – the new cultural precinct in Canberra.
Removing barriers to economic development on Indigenous land – unlocking it’s potential.
Creating jobs. Closing the Gap.
Indigenous Australians are – and must be – equal partners, sharing and driving decision-making about the plans that affect us.
By doing so we can realise our aspirations, the aspirations we hold for ourselves and for our children and our communities.
For their health and growth, their education, employment, economic independence, their flourishing cultural wellbeing.
But for the Stolen Generations, there is still more to be done.
As I’ve travelled the country over the past two weeks I’ve heard similar stories of Stolen Generation survivors still disconnected from their culture, from their land, from their people.
Through no fault of their own, these people – and subsequently their descendants – were removed. Culture interrupted and families disrupted.
And when they returned to country, returned to their culture – often without any proof of their removal – they’ve been subject to questions from our own mob about who they are, what their heritage is and what place they have in the local community.
We need to accept that the sense of place for some people may be where they were born – where they were taken from, where they were taken to, or now where they have chosen to put their roots in the ground since.
Everyone has a place. Everyone has a home.
It may be of our choosing. It may not be.
The task for us is: no matter their place, to bring them home. Welcome them home.
Yesterday, Lester – Number 11 – shared with me his journey; his loss of identity and place and how it has affected him and his children, grandchildren. About how, when reconnecting with his family after years away, he ‘spoke funny’ and how he’s found it hard to rebuild his family structure. He’s still on that journey. His family is still on that journey. And we need to do more to help Lester, and those survivors like him.
Our organisations need to support them.
Our people need to support them.
We need to include more than exclude.
Celebrate, not denigrate.
Build up rather than push down.
And we need to embrace them, give them love.
Turning to Parliament, there is great power in this place, this institution. And over the years, decades and generations to come, it must be used for good.
Our people must be empowered to engage with parliament and government, and to follow in the footsteps of Neville Bonner, as I have done. In federal parliament, state and territory parliaments, and local governments – we must work together, and in partnership.
This Parliament said sorry 14 years ago, and since that day we have strived to meet those words with actions – we will not always get it right, but the more we listen, the more we engage, the more we appreciate – the better our actions and outcomes will be.
Many more of our people will leave their song lines here – future generations will be in this place and they will bring their voice to the Cabinet.
Their experiences, knowledge and understanding will continue to contribute and guide this great nation and its people.
“When we walk together we have limitless potential.”
“When we are one, we are strong.”
So again I acknowledge all of those who are still with us from the Stolen Generations, their families, and all Indigenous Australians who aspire to a better future and better opportunities.
Your survival makes us remember.
Your strength makes us better.
I thank the House.
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