Can Australia afford not to be reconciled?

Perhaps if we achieve that level of global engagement we will not have our diplomats wandering the world in search of votes at the UN for a few minutes game time on the Security Council!

On the occasion of the National Apology, we gave the world and ourselves a brief glimpse of who we, as a nation, might yet become.

Today, I again warn that the journey ahead will be challenging. We must demand our leaders and opinion makers maintain the courage required to imagine a renewed nation, to take the many steps needed for a true renaissance. This must be a renaissance underpinned by Indigenous culture and spirituality, and an Indigenous view of what makes a successful society and economy.

The spurious discourse over symbolism versus practical outcomes, over rights versus responsibilities, and the notion that a collective or a community is somehow at odds with the rights and aspirations of individuals, still remains on the lips of many well-intentioned Australians.

The place of Aboriginal people in Australia’s constitutional and institutional frameworks has to be approached from the point of understanding what our greatest fears are about such a discussion and its outcomes. This should not daunt us. We have seen that Indigenous ceremony and symbols can be incorporated into the parliament, and that change to institutions is possible.

I continue to believe that our nation is capable of developing public policy that recognises the fact that Indigenous society – which draws on thousands of years of cultural and religious connection to Australian lands – has survived. Indigenous Australians define what it means to be resilient, and resilience lies at the heart of how we are all going to survive the shocks of this century, and the next.