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Reconciliation in 2004 - the outlook is positive after key gains in 2003

By Jackie Huggins - posted Thursday, 18 December 2003


A multitude of specific recommendations on specific areas of Indigenous affairs are contained in the reports of recent inquiries. The broad view of Reconciliation Australia is that, as a nation, we can make the opportunities of 2003 count by:

  • Signing ourselves up to timeframes of commitment beyond electoral or annual reporting cycles;
  • Recognising the primacy of community-driven decision-making;
  • Building on the open, honest nature of current national discussion;
  • Spending more time communicating the good news;
  • Using good news stories to remove any ‘fear factor’ from reconciliation;
  • Moving beyond artificial categorisations of reconciliation; and
  • Supporting emerging leaders in the Indigenous community.

Reconciliation will stay on the national agenda, at the centre of national debate and policy, for as long as it takes to effectively address the circumstances of Australia’s most disadvantaged citizens.

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This year has presented an opportunity to make great strides. The information gathered through landmark inquiries, the bridges built between people and sectors, the ideas and the straight talk have provided us with a way forward.

We need only to commit ourselves to translate good and well-informed intentions into action, to stick with the journey beyond the cycles of politics, and promising results will start to multiply across the country.

As 2003 draws to a close, Australia’s leaders have an unprecedented opportunity to actually achieve something in this most difficult area of national policy.

The year ahead is one of great possibility.

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This is a summary of the 2003 Reconciliation Report. The full report is available here (pdf, 796Kb).



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About the Author

Jackie Huggins is Deputy Director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Unit at the University of Queensland and Co-chair of Reconciliation Australia.

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