EVELYN SCOTT

CHAIRPERSON

COUNCIL FOR ABORIGINAL RECONCILIATION

AT THE

ALMOST ANNUAL FRIENDS OF TRANBY DINNER

TRANBY COLLEGE, SYDNEY

SATURDAY 17 JUNE 2000

Thank you ... .

Friends of Tranby...

Three weeks after Corroboree 2000 and I'm still in the mood for celebration. So, it's great to be back in Sydney for a celebration that's very much part of the spirit of Corroboree 2000.

I'd like to say a few words about the significance of that wonderful occasion, and what we now see ahead of us on the path to genuine, permanent reconciliation.

I'll begin by acknowledging that we're meeting on the country of the Eora people, the traditional owners of this land. As we always do at the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, I acknowledge the living culture of the Eora people and the unique contribution they make to the life of the Sydney region.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure many of you were part of that great mass of humanity that crossed the Harbour Bridge together on that cool but sunny Sunday.

And, remember as I do, the generosity of spirit that ran through all those hundreds of thousands of walkers.

You could almost touch the feelings of shared commitment to an idea whose time has clearly come.

You could sense being part of a major milestone in Australia's history.

You could feel the shared determination to get on and do what remains to be done as we reach out as a nation for what the Governor-General has called "true and lasting reconciliation".

I for one was truly inspired by the huge display of support for reconciliation - and for the documents of reconciliation that brought all those good people together.

Their's - ours - was a magnificent statement, and we were strengthened in it by many more thousands of people in other centres around the nation.

On the day, there were strongly-supported walks in scores of smaller cities and towns all over the country.

Even in Canberra, where it was snowing for most of the day, more than five thousand hardy souls crossed the lake and delivered their message to the front of Parliament House.

The strength of support for reconciliation was reinforced a week later, when seventy thousand people walked across Brisbane's Storey Bridge, and again last weekend, when fifty five thousand people walked for reconciliation across the River Torrens in Adelaide.

International media reports of Corroboree 2000 have ensured that the world is now aware that Australia is in the midst of a nation-defining process of reconciliation between its First Peoples and the rest of our society.

At home, massive media coverage ensured that all Australians are aware that the spirit of reconciliation is strong in our land.

Many less committed supporters of reconciliation will have their feelings strengthened, and their thinking crystallised, by the events of that weekend.

Many may well feel sorry that they didn't actively participate, to be part of such a wonderful, historic occasion.

Others - those in the remaining pockets of racism in this country - have been put on notice. They are destined for where they belong, on the outer fringes of a just and tolerant society.

We must not, however, allow the remaining enemies of reconciliation to regain a position in the public debate about the remaining issues.

To make sure this doesn't happen, I think we need to be careful about how we interpret the outcomes of Corroboree 2000. We need to be clear on just what this huge display of public support was about.

I would argue, with all the strength I can muster, that the people declared their support for both the symbolism and the practical agenda found in the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation's documents of reconciliation.

We released a draft document a year before the Sydney event; the inspiring Declaration and four National Strategies to Advance Reconciliation.

We then took our draft through probably the biggest program of public consultation ever attempted in this country.

The result was the Australian Declaration Towards Reconciliation and the Roadmap for Reconciliation - that we published in mid-May and formally presented at Corroboree 2000.

The people of Australia always knew what was going on. They knew the political context in which we were working on our documents.

And on that cool but sunny Sunday in Sydney, they turned up in their hundreds of thousands to declare their support for that work.

Having built this great base of popular support, we must continue to take the people with us.

Since Corroboree, some people have called for a Treaty and it is not beyond us, as a nation, to work towards a formal compact between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the Commonwealth Government representing the whole nation.

Such a compact may well turn out to be the best way to resolve unfinished business from our history as we take the final steps towards lasting reconciliation.

However, I have said that broad public discussion and education, in both Indigenous and wider communities, about the possible mechanisms and content of such a document is essential to achieving it.

All of us are working in our own ways to advance the interests of our own communities and of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples generally. Issues and circumstances vary for all of us around the country, and no one can prescribe a single cure for all ills.

However, the opportunity is there for Indigenous people to respond in a unified and unifying way to the proposals set out in the Council's documents. Both as an Indigenous person, and as Chairperson of the Council, I do hope this will happen.

Council has achieved a great deal in the last decade taking measured, patient steps along the path to reconciliation and we will continue to make progress using the same approach, as outlined in my Council's Roadmap for Reconciliation.

As you know, our proposals in the Roadmap include a solid legislative basis to encourage negotiated outcomes in a number of key areas, including Indigenous rights, self-determination, traditional law and constitutional reform.

We'll be devoting a big part of our effort, in our last six months in office, to pursuing that agenda with government, Indigenous communities and the major institutions in our society.

We think such a legislative framework is possible. We believe the objectives we've set are good. They're desirable in themselves whether or not they lead in the end to a formal compact to round off the unfinished business.

Ladies and gentlemen, I said at the beginning that I'm still in the mood to celebrate, and the couple of points I've just made do not spoil that mood.

Corroboree 2000 was a triumph for reconciliation on a very big scale.

Such a triumph only happened because the commitment of people in communities all over this country has led to many smaller victories for reconciliation. Smaller, but no less important.

That's why I'm so happy to be here among the Friends of Tranby. This institution was working towards the practical goals of reconciliation well before the term became part of the language of black-white relations in Australia.

You have run a long campaign, a dedicated campaign, for the achievement of equality for Aboriginal people in the crucial field of education.

The impact of that campaign in your community has made a significant contribution to the great goal of reconciliation. All strength to your arms as you continue your work.

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