The Changing Face of Humanitarian Action

Red Cross, Humanitarian Forum – Conflict, Disruption and Displacement

Acknowledgements

It is with honour and gratitude that I begin by paying my respects to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners of the land where we gather today. I pay my respects to your elders past and present, to the ancestors and to those who have come before us.

I am of the Gangulu from the Dawson Valley in Central Queensland and when I speak to my Elders, they ask me to pass on my salutations to the traditional owners of the land I visit in their continued fight for their country and their culture.

Acknowledgements:
Mr Tadateru Konoe: President, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent

Robert Tickner: CEO Red Cross Australia

Michael Raper: Director of Services and International Operations

My fellow Panelists

Can I also acknowledge the humanitarian work of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent around the world. Listening to the radio early this morning of the crisis left in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, where more than 10,000 people could have lost their lives with millions more dislocated,  I know the Red Cross will be there providing assistance during this time of greatest need for those people.

The theme of Conflict, Displacement and Disruption – Humanitarianism in the 21st century is particularly appropriate given that we are sitting very close to the place where the colonisation of Australia began some 225 years ago.

And the themes of conflict, displacement and disruption in reference to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have been a constant for us over those 225 year.
These themes are markers in all of our DNA, they affected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in every part of the country, they have coloured our world views, they have had intergenerational effects, most of which are still being felt today.

When I started in this position I travelled extensively and spoke with and listened to many individuals and communities across Australia: in urban, regional and remote settings.

I heard many stories and witnessed many things in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that are heartbreaking and disturbing – particularly given that we live in one of the richest, most successful democracies in the world. It is simply unacceptable that Australia’s first peoples are the most vulnerable of our healthy, prosperous nation.

I wonder how different our situation might be if the Red Cross had been around all of those years ago, promoting your principles, particularly that of humanity.

At the centre of my priorities in this position is the belief that we need to firstly develop stronger and deeper relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the rest of the Australia.

I have chosen this because I truly believe unless we can come together as Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and truly hear each other, truly understand each other and truly respect each other, reconciliation will remain ever elusive.

But this relationship must be built on the acknowledgement and recognition of us as the First Peoples of Australia, on recognition of the conflict, displacement and disruption to which my people have been subjected and on a human rights based approach.

I believe we need to ask the question: can we ever be truly reconciled while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to live in such relative disadvantage and continue to remain on the margins of our society?

But we need to have a framework or a lens through which to address disadvantage and advance reconciliation. It is my belief that human rights provide such a framework.

I further believe that reconciliation and human rights are intimately linked. At its core, human rights standards recognise that all people are ‘born free and equal in dignity and rights’.^[1] If different people are not free and equal they cannot truly reconcile.

Human rights are useful because they provide governments’ and the people a set of minimum legal standards which if applied to all people establishes a framework for a society to foster dignity and equality whilst celebrating difference, that is, celebrating humanity.

All of the challenges confronting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; effective engagement, poverty, education, health, protection of culture and languages, incarceration rates, protection of women and children, are all human rights issues.

Help is on hand however. In relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and human rights, we have a document that offers the ideal framework for a reconciled nation. This document is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Declaration contains the ‘minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world’.^[2]

It reaffirms that Indigenous people are entitled to all human rights recognised in international law without discrimination. But it also acknowledges that, without recognising the collective rights of Indigenous peoples and ensuring protection of our cultures, Indigenous people can never be truly free and equal.

I believe the Declaration provides the necessary guidance to government in the development of new narratives, practices, philosophies and opportunities.

The Declaration is about creating new relationships based on partnership, mutual respect and honesty.

The Declaration that provides us with a roadmap to reconciliation.

But, some have questioned whether Australia is obliged to implement the Declaration. Some who have led us to believe that it is an instrument of division have questioned if it would be beneficial to implement it at all.

Yet preambular paragraph 18, affirms that the General Assembly of the United Nations is:

Convinced that the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples in this Declaration will enhance the harmonious and cooperative relations between the State and indigenous peoples

This is a primary task if we are to achieve reconciliation.

When the National Apology to Australia’s Indigenous peoples was made in February 2008, I believed Australia was ready for a new, stronger, deeper relationship with its first peoples.

On that day there was a palpable sense of us coming together as a nation. Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians sat together, held each other and cried together. The nation took a great leap forward together.

It is my view that if we are to improve the relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia we must build understanding of each other.

This requires us to disregard preconceptions.

The elephant in the room in this debate is racism. It must be addressed. Despite Australian’s being justifiably proud that theirs is the land of the ‘fair go’, racism unfortunately remains common.

Recent surveys conducted among 12 000 people, found that approximately 90% of respondents consider that racial prejudice is still a problem in Australia.^[3] The Australian Reconciliation Barometer shows that 93% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait participants and 71% of non-Indigenous participants feel there are high levels of prejudice between the two groups.^[4]

Until this is confronted we cannot reconcile as a nation. Consequently, as a nation we must have a zero tolerance for racism in all its forms. Surely, it undermines our sense of fair go.

At its core reconciliation must be about recognising and embracing difference with mutual respect.

Human rights standards critical as they place people at the centre of any activity.

Of particular relevance here is preambular paragraph 2 of the Declaration which recognises Indigenous peoples rights to be different. Now what this means in practice is that it is not the responsibility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to assimilate into the mainstream. Rather, it is a responsibility on all of us, black or white, governments and private citizens to be inclusive and accommodate difference.

To do this we need develop ways of engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander views and perspectives into mainstream Australia.

Thanks you ladies and gentlemen.