The future is in our hands: Reconciliation direction 2001

At the most basic level, what Reconciliation and all these issues that are inextricably tied up in it are really about is that we no longer want mainstream Australia to make decisions for us. We want to determine our destiny for ourselves. Instead of deciding what is best for us, to ask us. And to listen to what we are saying and why. For some of the same basic respect that you all expect, and rightfully so, for your right to be who you are.

It has been interesting to watch how the mainstream media and others are responding to and interpreting the actions of the hundreds of thousands of people who crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge at Corroboree 2000.

It has been equally fascinating to watch Prime Minister John Howard's reaction. Despite the fact that the marchers literally walked past the front door of his official residence on Sydney Harbour, he could not find it within himself to join in.

And despite a prominent series of public statements from Aboriginal leaders leading up to Corroboree, many commentators have claimed the popular call for a treaty before, during and after the march - even its inclusion on the Documents of Reconciliation - was an attempt to hijack the reconciliation process.

Nothing could be further from the truth because a treaty has never been off our agenda.

What this shows, I believe, is just how much work still needs to be done - to truly inform the nation about our rights and aspirations - despite the amazing amount of shoe leather left on Sydney Harbour Bridge on that historic Sunday in May.

Those who take more than a passing interest in Aboriginal Affairs know that the reconciliation process was what we got from former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke - in response to our calls for a treaty. That great hope that he raised and then backed away from.

So it was no surprise to read that Prime Minister Howard and his Ministers reject the treaty as divisive, claiming it would create a nation within a nation.

This is the blinkered vision they have employed on our right to self-determination for more than 10 years.

It probably won't surprise you to recall that even back in April, 1989, Mr Howard, who was then Leader of the Opposition, proclaimed the Hawke Government would not improve "the lot" of Aborigines "by empty symbolic gestures such as treaties."

He went on:

"I take the opportunity of saying again that if the Government wants to divide Australian against Australian, if it wants to create a black nation within the Australian nation it should go ahead with its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission legislation and its treaty. In the process it will be doing a monumental disservice to the Australian community."