SPEECH BY CHAIRPERSON BEV MANTON
INAUGURAL KEVIN COOK LECTURE 2009

JANUARY 26, 2009, YABUN FESTIVAL, SYDNEY

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Distinguished guests, Fellow Councillors, Brothers and Sisters,

I thank you for taking the time to come here today.

As you know millions of our fellow Australians are attending small and large functions across the country to celebrate Australia Day.

Many thousands of Aboriginal people will be attending functions to mark what we observe as Invasion or Survival Day.

Before I begin this short address, I would ask all of you to join me in sharing a custom of the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council......the observation of one minute's silence in memory of those who have come before us in the struggle for our political cultural and economic rights.

(one minute silence)

Thank you.

I'm sure you will agree it is all too easy to forget the hardships, the struggle and the successes of those who have come before us.

Let me begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands we are on today - the Gadigal, Guringai, and Dharruk peoples of the Eora Nation.

As most of you are aware, they are the first peoples of the Sydney Basin......upon whose lands we gather today.

I am delighted to be here this morning to deliver the inaugural Kevin Cook lecture.

Again.....I'm sure 'Cookie' requires no introduction to many of you.

Certainly, no-one who has graced the corridors of Tranby Aboriginal College or NSWALC over the past quarter century or so and delved into their rich history and that of land rights in NSW.

Cookie was at the centre of it all as General Secretary of Tranby and the first elected Chairperson of NSWALC.

It was from Tranby that he used the political and organisational skills honed in the trade union movement to effectively campaign for the introduction of what became the first ever Land Rights Act in NSW.

NSWALC was formed in 1977 out of the Black Defence Group which never stopped campaigning for recognition of our dispossession which all began with the arrival of the First Fleet on this day so many years ago.

We owe a great debt to our early warriors, the warriors and fighters for our rights who  - like Kevin - fought so hard to achieve many of the rights and programs we enjoy today.

And they did so at a very different time in our history.

In the 60's and 70's attitudes towards Aboriginal Australians was much more entrenched, much more anti any attempt for us to enjoy the same rights as other Australians.

We are talking primarily of the 60 and 70 and early 1980's.  It was a dynamic time in the history of Australia.

In particular, in the history of Aboriginal Australians.

New South Wales was at the forefront of those struggles and the major historic events such as Day of Mourning, the Freedom Rides, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, an Aboriginal Presence at the United Nations and, of course, the establishment of the Tent Embassy.

Cookie does not enjoy the best of health these days....but nothing has dampened his spirits.

I am sure it has never dampened the spirits of the other warriors who are still with us - warriors like Ossie Cruise, Gary Foley, Chicka Dixon, Lynn Thompson, Naomi Mayers, Sol Bellear,  Faith Bandler, Lyle Munro Senior and Paul Coe. 

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but I just wanted to mention a few of the many.

Tragically, many are no longer with us. And that list is an even longer one.

To give just a few examples, it includes greater fighters like Charlie Perkins,  George (Bandit) Rose, Manuel Ritchie,  Mervyn Penrith (better known to you all as Burnum Burnum),   Tombo Winters, and great women warriors like  Mum Shirl and Essie Coffey.

They achieved so much.

Amongst their greatest successes was to get mainstream Australia to see the justice of our cause and to join with us in our struggles.

I am thinking in particular of how they got so many trade unions to join in our struggles.

The Wharfies, the Builders Labourers, the Metalworkers and soon afterwards the Teachers Federation and a lot more unions, many church leaders such as Reverend Fred Nile and so many others, including university students.

It was a significant turning point, as was the decision to push for an international Aboriginal presence in the UN and other world bodies.

They fought the good fight.

And they did so without seeking personal recognition or financial reward

Kevin, this annual lecture is NSWALC's and Tranby's tribute to you.... and to your partner Judy, who I'm pleased to say is with us today.

Although now retired, Kevin-- and Judy-- are still active in the ongoing fight for a better deal for our people.

It is my privilege to deliver this inaugural lecture in recognition of their past and ongoing work.

It is also a great privilege today to formally announce that NSWALC, Tranby and several other Aboriginal Peak Aboriginal organizations throughout New South Wales have formed a widely representative Coalition of Peak Aboriginal Organisations.

 The Coalition will provide a strong, co-ordinated and united voice to address Aboriginal issues which include health, education, housing, employment, legal equality and social justice.

The Coalition has taken the view that since the demise of ATSIC,  there has been a lack of a powerful representative body that could represent the interests of the vast majority of Aboriginal people throughout the State.

We hope to build on the principals of the Coalition of Aboriginal Organisations that was established by Kevin Cook and others in the 1970s.

We look forward to many Aboriginal organisations joining with us.

I'd ask all of you to spend a little time today reflecting on how we should further shape our nation to ensure it truly reflects the aspirations of all.

We live in a time of immense and rapid change.

It is a time of great promise, hope and opportunity.

We have just witnessed the swearing in of America's 44th President, Barack Obama.

I must confess the inauguration of a black President of the United States was something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime.

I'm sure you will agree a black Premier or Prime Minister still remains little more than a pipe dream here.

But President Obama's elevation to Office provides us hope that this might someday occur....at least before the end of the current century.

I'm sure he has brought hope and inspiration to many of the young people in our communities just as he has to young African Americans.

Australia, like America, is a new and young society compared with many others.

It is one that continues to struggle to find real identity.

It is, in my view, still the lucky country.

It is one that continues to draw people from all over the world.

It is a society made rich by our expanding mix of diverse cultures....and one that is increasingly tolerant.

Sadly, it has not always been this way.

Aboriginal people have suffered over two centuries of oppression and conflict...and still do.

As we all know this began with the arrival of the British colonists, 221 years ago today.

We cannot forget, nor should we, that we have been progressively dispossessed of our land without the benefit of a treaty, agreement or any form of compensation.....until the passage of land rights thanks to the work of Kevin Cooke and many others.

We cannot, and should not, ever forget the massacres, the torture, the diseases and the dispossession and dispersal from our lands.

We continue to survive, and seek to thrive, against seemingly insurmountable odds of early death, high unemployment levels and in many areas low educational levels.

Unfortunately this past has a continuing legacy into the present.

All Australians have been asked to put reconciliation firmly at the core of the official Australia Day celebrations today.

I'm sure you will agree we still have much to reconcile.

The current Federal Government has rightly earned international accolades for its decision to extend a formal apology to Aboriginal people for the official polices which saw many of our people torn away and separated from their families.

It is my belief that it should have taken one further crucial step and established a Reparations Tribunal.

It has yet to explain why it has not done so.

I'd remind you it had a policy commitment to do so.

In this respect the Prime Minister has brought us - half home.

His apology was a significant symbolic step forward on our mutual path to reconciliation.

I earnestly believe Prime Minister Rudd understands the importance of symbolism and reconciliation to all Australians.....and the First Australians in particular.

But he needs to reach out further.

I'd like take this opportunity to remind him of another, as yet unfulfilled, policy promise made by his party before the Federal Election which brought him into power.

Many of your may have read about it or head about it over the weekend.

It was a commitment to implement the recommendations made in 2000 by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.

The recommendations made by that Council are set out very clearly in its national strategies to advance reconciliation

Those strategies reaffirmed the importance of symbolism.

They recommended Governments, organisations and communities negotiate to establish and promote symbols of reconciliation.

They state very clearly that this would include changing the date of Australia Day to a date that includes all Australians.

As I mentioned earlier "Invasion Day" has been widely used by our people to describe the Aboriginal alternative observance of January 26.

We certainly believe, as the First Australians, that it is entirely inappropriate to celebrate the arrival of the First Fleet as "Australia Day." 

How can the founding of one state - New South Wales - really be celebrated as AUSTRALIA DAY?

Aboriginal people have been making this clear for decades.

I believe now is the time to raise this again for full and frank public debate.

I am well aware Australia Day is celebrated as a public holiday in every State and Territory.

To move that date would require considerable consultation and debate.

I call on Prime Minister Rudd to initiate that public debate.

He could do so in his first report to Parliament next month on the steps taken by his government to close the gap between Aboriginal Australians and their fellow Australians.

It is a debate, in my view, we have to have.

This is especially so at a time when we are being asked to put reconciliation at the forefront of official celebrations today.

There have been numerous alternative dates suggested for the observance of an Australia Day we can all celebrate.

We want to be able to celebrate an Australia Day with all other Australians.

This is a magnificent country.

It is still very much the lucky country.

But until that alternative date is found and settled I do not think we Aboriginal Australians will ever see January 26 as anything other than Invasion or Survival Day.

In my view an alternative date would be another small but highly significant symbolic step along our mutual path of reconciliation.

As long as the Federal Government refuses to spark that debate we are entitled to ask one simple question.

Why make such a promise, and raise expectations, when there was no intention of ever delivering upon it?

I'd ask you to keep this question at the forefront of your thoughts today as you consider how far we have come....and how far we have yet to travel.

I'd also ask all of my fellow Australians to think deeply about this issue and consider how they might react to the proposition they celebrate by way of an official holiday an act of dispossession upon them.

I think not.

NSWALC's Governing Council has shown since taking office some eighteen months ago that it is prepared to take practical steps to improve the health and well being of our people.

We will be spending more than $200 million over at least the next 25 years to provide basic water and sewerage services to our people in partnership with the State Government.

We have put aside $30 million of our compensation monies aside to fund a perpetual education scholarship scheme to increase opportunity.

We are now looking at a number of other practical and innovative ways to provide greater community benefits in housing, health and business development and to increase participation in the political process.

We are working closely with both State and Federal Governments on these initiatives.

However it is clear to me, and my fellow Councillors, that we must find a balance between the practical and the symbolic, and between rights and responsibilities.

Only when that balance is struck can we truly believe that we have realised the vision of those, such as Kevin Cook.

The time has come for our major peak bodies to continue the fight for agendas that were set by our great warriors.

They include such fundamental rights as

• Land rights
• A Treaty

And other key outcomes of more contemporary times such as:

• A properly elected national representative body
• The re-instatement of the Racial Discrimination Act, and
• An end to the racist and impractical Northern Territory Intervention - in particularly the quarantining of wages.

I call on all of our leaders to continue the struggle for justice and rights.

But I must warn you that by stepping forward the path we tread won't be easy.

We need your determination, your will to right the wrongs.

There are many challenges that we will have to confront on the road ahead - but we need to work together to make the first Australians equal Australians.

Let us walk and work together to achieve a truly equal Australia.

A big task.  But surely one worth striving for.

Thank you