Speech by Gatjil Djerrkura to launch Mark McKenna's
This Country: a Reconciled Republic?

Manning Clark House, Canberra, 14 May 2004

I want to begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people on whose traditional land we gather today.

I come to the national capital today with mixed feelings. Between 1997 and 1999, during my time as Chairman of ATSIC, I lived and worked in Canberra. In that role, I was always aware of the enormous amount of effort put in by Aboriginal people working at all levels of ATSIC. Nor can I forget the goodwill that was shown towards ATSIC by many non-indigenous Australians.

ATSIC was an organisation that was constantly rethinking its rationale, purpose and operating strategies. Despite its flaws, and I do not want to deny them, ATSIC deserved better than execution by Prime Ministerial decree.

As early as December 2001, in light of the negative publicity associated with legal proceedings brought against my successor, I called upon ATSIC Chairman Geoff Clark to resign. I did so primarily because of my concern for ATSIC. But we should not be fooled into thinking that the present governmentâs disdain for ATSIC can be explained solely by the chairmanâs failure to resign. ATSIC was always in a vulnerable position.

Let me be clear. The Prime Minister has long refused to accept the fundamental difference of Aboriginal people in our community. He was never sympathetic to the principles on which ATSIC was based and founded. He has always rejected any suggestion of indigenous autonomy and self-determination. Even when the Prime Minister took up my invitation to visit Arnhem Land in 1998, he seemed incapable of understanding indigenous aspirations.

It is no coincidence that Mr. Howard announced his intention to abolish ATSIC when the organisation was at its weakest point in its fourteen-year history. For me, as a former chairman, but also in my capacity as an Aboriginal leader, one of the most disappointing aspects of Mr. Howardâs decision was the manner in which it was made and the language in which it was delivered.

In the classic imperial fashion, without negotiation, without understanding and with little empathy, the great white leader announced that Aboriginal people had, yet again been a Îfailureâ. ÎATSIC would be abolishedâ. No more paternalistic model of government could be found. I suppose we should not be surprised. The Prime Minister walks early and often, but he has never walked for reconciliation. Nor has he been able to bring himself, as the leader of our nation, to say sorry.

As we have so often heard, the federal government is the champion of Îpractical reconciliationâ. As a senior elder of the Wangurri people in the East Arnhemland/Yirrkala Aboriginal community, I live every day understanding the immediate and extremely urgent needs of Aboriginal people. But I also understand the importance of symbolism.

Symbolism matters because it is a reference point for all Australians. The symbols of our nation embody our ideals. They speak to us and to other nations of our identity and beliefs. Symbols can also be a sign of change, a beacon of hope and a declaration of intent. When they reflect our aspirations, they are empowering. And there is no more fundamental symbolism, no more fundamental reference point, than the Australian Constitution.

Aboriginal people have struggled for more than 200 years to resist the whitfellasâ most daring piece of symbolism. The declaration that this land is the property of the Crown. And it is here, as Mark McKennaâs book explains, that the republic is crucial.

One of the first concrete gestures of reconciliation is a new republican constitution in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are visible and our culture and rights are respected. For us, the implications of no change are. unacceptable. Republicans must accept that our perspective is different, and rightly so. This country was ours long before it was taken from us. And it is here, on the ground beneath our feet, that republicans will find a new rationale and vision for the republic.

A just republic is a republic that begins with a new preamble to the Australian Constitution, a preamble written after negotiation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and all Australians, a preamble that acknowledges our status as the indigenous people of Australia, expresses a respect for the land and indigenous cultural heritage, and a commitment to justice and equity for all. A just republic is also a republic that guarantees freedom from racial discrimination and deletes the racist overtones in our constitution, especially sections 25 and 51 (26). These changes would not only have powerful symbolic value for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but for all people who have come to Australia from non Anglo backgrounds.

Many of you here tonight will be republicans. Let me conclude by asking you to reflect on the same questions Mark McKenna asks in his book.

If we are to re-found Australia as a republic, and to write a new Constitution, how can we pretend that this act of national renewal can be completed without any reference to the indigenous people of this country?

How can we justify the common assumption that the republic is a separate issue from reconciliation?

Why should indigenous people be told yet again that we are not relevant to the republic?

If we want to break away from the colonial past, and begin anew, then we have to walk together - hand in hand and side by side - as a truly reconciled nation. A republic that does not make the first concrete gesture towards reconciliation is a republic that walks in the footsteps of the Crown. Is this the impoverished vision of a republic we want? My answer is No. Our vision must be more substantial.

The great merit of Mark McKennaâs book is that it gives us the vision for a republic that has been so conspicuously lacking for so long. He sets out a new republican platform. A platform that is not blind to our history and not afraid to embrace the struggle of Aboriginal people for justice.

My dream is of Australia as a reconciled republic. I hope it is a dream that we share. Mark McKennaâs book offers hope and a new direction for the republic. It is a book that all Australians interested in reconciliation and the republic should read. And it gives me great pleasure to launch it here tonight.

Gatjil Djerrkura OAM

May 14 2004