With the eyes of the world soon to be focused on our nation with the staging of the Sydney Olympics, recent events have demonstrated a groundswell of support for reconciliation.
Speaking at the recent Institute of Municipal Management National Congress, Marketing Guru, Bob Pritchard, said that we have been receiving considerable flack from overseas, but with the estimated 250,000 people walking across Sydney Harbour Bridge, the ‘true Australia is now being promoted overseas’.
In launching the Document of Reconciliation at Corroboree 2000, all spheres of government, business, community organisations and the wider community had the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to reconciliation.
Through the numerous events staged around the nation as part of Corroboree 2000, people have sent a clear message to governments that a settlement between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians is vital.
In spite of the lack of an apology for past injustices from the Federal Government, reconciliation is happening in various forms in communities across the nation. Many Councils have shown leadership, and with their communities, are building bridges as their contribution to this process.
Back in 1997, some 600 delegates, representing more than 60 percent of Australian Local Governments, who attended the Australian Local Government Association’s National General Assembly passed the following motion.
‘Local Government expresses its deep and sincere regret at the hurt and distress caused by policies which forcibly removed Aboriginal children from their families and homes.
‘It recognises that a great injustice was inflicted on Aboriginal peoples in the name of assimilation and integration and reaffirms its support for reconciliation between all Australians. The removal of Indigenous children from their families has had wide reaching consequences, depriving many of contact with their people, country, their language and culture.
‘Local Government commits to making all necessary records and assistance available to aid the victims of these policies in their grief and rebuilding of their family histories and place in today’s Australia.’
At last year’s General Assembly, a further motion was passed declaring Local Government of Australia’s support for the Document for Reconciliation. In recent years, many Councils have developed their own Statement of Reconciliation or Statement of Commitment.
With the march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge now recognised as the biggest in Australia’s history, and other large turnouts around the nation, this groundswell of support clearly indicates that many people, given the opportunity to express their support for reconciliation, will flock to do so.
Councils are ideally placed to build on this momentum. However, as Rodney Gibbons, Manager of the Tasmanian Office of Aboriginal Affairs stated at the Local Government Conference (refer Page 3) lack of understanding between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians is impeding progress.
He urged Councils to encourage Aboriginal involvement in Local Government but stressed this inclusiveness must not become integration or assimilation.
He calls for mutual respect and walking together, but at the same time Aboriginal people need to preserve their culture and be recognised as a separate race: maintaining their culture is what distinguishes them as Aboriginal people.
With multiculturalism now very much a hallmark of our great nation, he rightly asks, why is this so difficult in regard to the first Australians?
The Australian Local Government Association has clearly committed itself to the Document for Reconciliation , and Councils now have a great opportunity to work with their communities to progress the process of reconciliation. In the absence of national leadership, Local Government definitely has a major role to play on behalf of all Australians.
