Speech at the NAIDOC Week Reception as part of NAIDOC Week 2008 post celebrations
11 July 2008; Australia High Commission, Port Moresby
Acting Australian High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Ms Ann Harrap
Thank you all for coming along to the AHC this afternoon to join us in our celebration of NAIDOC week.
First – a word of explanation. NAIDOC celebrations are held around Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The word NAIDOC is an acronym that 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 now become the name of the week itself.
The week is celebrated not just in the Indigenous community, but also in increasing numbers of government agencies, schools, local councils and workplaces.
This year NAIDOC is celebrating its 51st anniversary with the theme Advance Australia Fair?
It aims to encourage people to reflect on the Australian principle of a “fair go” and to consider the inequalities still experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia today.
Inequalities that mean a 17 year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians; a significantly higher mortality rate for Indigenous children under five than for non-indigenous Australians; and a significant shortfall in reading, writing and numeracy achievements for Indigenous children.
The Australian Government has pledged – as an urgent priority – to close those gaps. That commitment was most recently reaffirmed in Prime Minister Rudd’s historic apology to the Stolen Generations in the Australian Parliament on 13 February 2008.
The national apology has both important symbolic value and is a vital healing message for those who suffered, and still suffer, as a result of forcible removal from their families between 1910 and 1970.
The apology was not about compensation and not about attributing guilt to the current generation of Australian people.
It was about expressing a core value of the Australian nation – that everyone is entitled to a fair go – and about a recognition in the Australian community that, for the stolen generations, there was no fair go at all.
And as the Prime Minister Rudd said at the time – there was a pretty basic Aussie belief that demanded that it was time to put right ‘this most outrageous of wrongs’.
The Prime Minister said the apology was an opportunity to bring the first two centuries of our shared history to a close and to begin a new future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.
The apology was greeted with a mixture of joy and relief in the Indigenous community and has given new impetus to the reconciliation process.
The initiative received widespread support in the broader Australian community and considerable coverage around the world. It helped to demonstrate the Government’s determination to make a real difference to the lives of Aboriginal and TI people and it helped, once again, to raise the profile of a people that have done so much to shape Australia’s national identity.
Indigenous cultures in Australia are rich and diverse. Indigenous people have significant involvement across many fields, including the arts, media, academia, sport and business.
Part of our role here at the AHC is to show you that – our friends and colleagues in PNG – to show you the unique contribution of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Earlier this year we were able to bring the well-known television personality Ernie Dingo to PNG as part of Australia Week and he was able to share his experiences on leadership and dealing with adversity to a range of PNG audiences.
Then just recently we had the privilege of hosting one of Australia’s best known sporting legends Cathy Freeman who not only spoke to and inspired some of PNG’s elite athletes but who also took time out to speak to a range of different groups – disabled athletes, women from the domestic violence shelter Morauta Haus, people living with HIV/Aids – all of whom I think took courage and hope from an indigenous Australian woman who has demonstrated so thoroughly what can be achieved when you believe in yourself.
Unfortunately today we don’t have a Cathy Freeman or equivalent to inspire you but we do have a short film that I’m sure will achieve the same result. It’s called Footy The La Perouse Way and it’s a story of a small aboriginal community located in the middle of multi-cultural Sydney. It’s the journey of a community, whose beginnings were marked by racial division and the suffering it brought, and its embracing of football as a starting point to put those differences behind it. It’s a great film about black and white cultures, working together side-by-side in all aspects of life, with respect, honour, integrity and trust.
The film runs for about 25 minutes and then we’d love you to stay and join us for afternoon tea (which will actually morph into our regular happy hour) to talk about the film, what you thought of it, and any other questions you might have about Australian indigenous culture.
Enjoy the film.