25 years of Garma: PM's speech, Closing the Gap (not)

The Prime Minister made a lengthy speech at Garma on 2 August, concentrating on economic development opportunities for First Nations, including through some new initiatives. There was also this, however:

I know there are members of the Yoorrook Justice Commission here at Garma this weekend.

Their Commission has spent the last four years recording the testimony of thousands of people across Victoria.

Reflecting on the wrongs of the past, sharing the pain their families and ancestors suffered, as a result of dispossession and discrimination.

Policies and practices built on exclusion.

By neglect and by design, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were cut off from the nourishment of culture and country.

From the fullness of their history, the wealth of their land and waters.

From their rightful, equal place in our economy and society.

From the justice and opportunity that every Australian deserves.

And from the dreams and aspirations that every parent holds for their child.

As a nation, we are still coming to terms with the full truth and toll of this exclusion.

Even as we continue on the long journey of understanding our past, we must meet our responsibility to the future.

We must seize and harness the power of inclusion.

For Yoorrook, use this site's Search engine.

At the same time as Garma, another Closing the Gap report landed from the Productivity Commission.

As reported by National Indigenous Times, Gungarri man and Productivity Commissioner Selwyn Button said the data demonstrates that ‘outcomes can’t easily be reduced to a number’; rather, the figures reflect deeper systemic failures in the current approach. He said that each outcome is interconnected, painting a broader picture of a system that continues to fall short of meeting the needs and lived realities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

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Photo credit: cover of latest Closing the Gap update from the Productivity Commission.