But we must always remember that our nation is not simply black and white. We are rich with the contribution of Australians of many backgrounds, 30% of who were born overseas — and this is one of our greatest strengths as a nation.
My elders taught me that any child who is conceived in our country holds within them the baby spirit of the creator ancestor from the land. In other words, Australian children of all backgrounds belong to this land… they too have Jukurrpa dreaming and they too are connected spiritually to this country. This is what I know true reconciliation to mean.
These teachings cannot be delivered through legislation, nor through any corporate reconciliation action plan. These teachings are about what it means to be a modern human in an ancient land.
It’s time to stop feeding into a narrative that promotes racial divide, a narrative that claims to try to stamp out racism but applies racism in doing so and encourages a racist over reaction. Yes, it is time for some truth telling.
Our nation’s schools’ sole responsibility should be to educate, not indoctrinate. But we have in recent times witnessed the overwhelming politicisation of our children. Children are now encouraged to skip school to be paraded as activist spearheads by adults who place the weight of the world on their shoulders.
Meanwhile children in remote communities, where school attendance rates are in some places as low as 19%, do not have the privilege of gaining an education that the activist class take for granted. Everyone wants to be an activist to push governments to solve their dilemmas but no one wants to be responsible for themselves.
Our aim should not be to blame our current democratic institutions for all our perceived failures but to encourage individual responsibility for all Australians. Where we fail is where we encourage others to believe responsibility for one’s own life can be avoided and their disadvantage can be charged to another.
We need to focus on nation building — not nation burning. Our laws as they stand now are not racist as some will claim, but exist because we have overcome historical racist legislation.
