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AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSION
OTTAWA

MEDIA RELEASE

AUSTRALIA’S NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK

21 May 2010

National Reconciliation Week is held annually in Australia to celebrate the culture and history of the First Australians - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples - and their strong contribution to Australian society today. This year National Reconciliation Week will take place from 27 May to 3 June.

The theme for National Reconciliation Week this year is “Reconciliation: Lets see it through!” It reflects that, while there is still a long way to go, Australia is working towards resetting relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and achieving long lasting reconciliation
National Reconciliation Week further coincides with two very significant dates in the history of race relations in Australia.

• May 27 marks the anniversary of the 1967 Referendum, in which more than 90 per cent of Australians voted to remove clauses in the Australian Constitution which discriminated again Indigenous Australians - excluding them from citizenship.

• June 3 marks the anniversary of the Australian High Court judgement in the 1992 Mabo case. A decision that for the first time recognised the Native Title rights of Indigenous Australians as the original inhabitants of this continent and overturned the myth of terra nullius (empty land).

This year, National Reconciliation Week has a third date to commemorate, the ten year anniversary of the Bridge Walks in May 2000, which saw 300,000 Australians walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of Reconciliation.

The Australian Government is supporting the establishment of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation to address grief and loss issues among Indigenous Australians, with a strong focus on the Stolen Generations.

The Government also considers that a national Indigenous representative body is a prerequisite to enabling new partnerships and re-setting relationships with Government. Members of the first Congress Executive of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples have now been appointed and will soon commence the important work of representing Indigenous Australians in the policy arena. This body is the first such organisation chosen entirely by Indigenous Australians to represent Indigenous Australians. It will play a key role in the Government’s commitment to developing genuine partnerships to “Close the Gap” on life expectancy and opportunities.

Australia was pleased to announce its support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples last year.

Australia also celebrates the recent election of the first Indigenous Australian woman, Megan Davis, to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, following a successful lobbying campaign by the Australian Government.