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A vision for the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples

By Kerry Arabena - posted Monday, 1 November 2010


The primary objective of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples is to reconnect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with the decision-making structures in Australia. Since the abolition of ATSIC, we have not had a national “voice” which could harness the collective energies and efforts of individuals in communities, service provider organizations and peak bodies. International evidence has shown that a clear and essential ingredient in overturning disadvantage is the close and respected involvement of the community itself. As one of our members has informed us: “We need to have as much influence as the mining companies do in parliamentary decision-making in Australia”.

We need to focus on the whole rather than parts, to build relationships rather than separate entities and to understand networks and feedback loops rather than assume that linear and deterministic cause and effect influences prevail.

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The vision

Our evolution will be member-driven. We will be capable of engaging those with whom no one else can. We will grow and change as a result of input and advice from them so that we are representing them in ways of which they both need and can take pride. We will be focused on re-engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with the decision-making processes in this country. We will strive to see the global in the local - the larger threats to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to our country and indeed, the world.

The deepest cause of devastation to our First People and our globe is found in a mode of consciousness that has established a radical discontinuity between humans, the other species we share the planet with and the eco-systems which supports all life. The National Congress has a role and a responsibility to shake the establishment at its very roots with all the passion and hope that we can muster. We will carry out the improvement in the circumstance of our lives and be part of the global infrastructure that facilitates a transition from a period of human devastation of First Peoples and the Earth to a period of time when all humans live in a mutually beneficial manner with the planet. Such a transition has no human historical parallel.

In order to ensure the planet is available for future generations we have to draw on our older knowledge and traditions that provide advice on how to live within the very structure and functioning of the planet itself. History is governed by those overarching moments that give shape and meaning to life by relating human venture to the larger destinies of the planet.

Mutual enhancement is the vision for the National Congress. There is much great work to be done by listening to our past and imagining a future. We are indeed fortunate to have the National Congress, not only to rebuild our relationships based on mutual respect, but for what it provides as a vehicle to assist the planet and all with whom we share this common lived experience.

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This is an edited version of the Charles Perkins Oration delived by Kerry Arabena on 28 October, 2010 at the University of Sydney.



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About the Author

Dr Kerry Arabena is the Co-Chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples.

Related Links
Charles Perkins Lecture (full text)

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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