Media release
2 July 2010
For immediate release
Australians to celebrate NAIDOC Week
From 4 – 11 July Australians will celebrate NAIDOC Week 2010. This year the theme of NAIDOC Week is Unsung Heroes – Closing the Gap by Leading the Way.
“NAIDOC Week is a time when we can celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea (PNG), Ian Kemish AM, said.
NAIDOC originally stood for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week and its acronym has since become the name of the week itself.
He said many unsung Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have made huge contributions to Australian society.
This year NAIDOC Week recognises the part played by the quiet achievers in the Indigenous community, both now and in the past. These heroes lead by taking their own paths, and in doing so, helping other Indigenous people set their own direction for the future,” Mr Kemish said.
The theme asserts Indigenous ownership of 'closing the gap', including those between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and gaps in knowledge and understanding, he said.
Mr Kemish said the Australian High Commission Port Moresby will support and celebrate NAIDOC Week by flying the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags in the foyer, and work with the media to promote a greater understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures.
“Since taking office in November 2007, the current Australian Government has taken a number of steps to improve relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, in particular, to improve the life outcomes of Indigenous Australians,” Mr Kemish said.
Those steps have included former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s delivery of the National Apology on 13 February 2008 to Australia’s Indigenous peoples, and particularly the Stolen Generation for past Government policies that had resulted in profound grief, suffering and loss on the part of Indigenous Australians.
Those steps also have included the recent election of the first Indigenous Australian woman, Megan Davis, to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and in 2008 the Australian Federal and State Governments committing A$4.6 billion towards ambitious targets relating to Indigenous life expectancy, health, education and employment.