While there have been mistakes over the past 200 years, the Church has a rich tradition of defending the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and tackling the root causes of their disadvantage in Australian society, a leading Aboriginal advocate has said.
“I look to the Catholic bishops who said in 1972: it is as obvious as a tree on the Nullarbor that Aborigines have land rights … ownership, employment, housing, education and bargaining power are also paramount rights,” Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda told the nation’s bishops during their plenary meeting in Sydney on 24 November.
Mr Gooda, a former head of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission with a long career as a public servant, spoke about the hope given to indigenous Australians by Parliament’s 2008 national apology.
“It’s a journey that, to steal the words of the Australian Catholic Bishops from 1972, moves us along the road ‘to the human liberty and dignity which Australia owes her people’,” he said. “It’s a journey that is not about looking back.
“It’s about looking forward and moving forward as a nation, it’s a journey that can help build the healthy relationships necessary for an agenda of hope.”
Mr Gooda told the bishops the most important thing others can do for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders is to go into communities and listen to them, rather than imposing structures.
“Relationships are built on understanding, dialogue, tolerance, acceptance, respect, trust and reciprocated affection, not intolerance, a lack of acceptance, a lack of dialogue, mistrust and a lack of respect and understanding,” he said.
The bishops’ conference maintains a special Commission for Relations with Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, and a separate council for indigenous Catholics.