Sorry Day event at Mt Druitt

Holy Family Parish Mt Druitt has commemorated the fourth anniversary of the apology this week, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda making a call for constitutional change.

The commemorative event, titled One Mob Under the Southern Cross, included a ceremony of remembrance and a community debate. It was hosted by the Mt Druitt Regional Reconciliation Group, and was facilitated by Fr Pat Mullins SJ.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda was the keynote speaker at the event, which came four years after the 13 February 2008 apology from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population for injustices committed against them in the past.

He said that the country had failed to follow through on the apology.

‘The nation was ready for a great change, we set the scene, but we missed it’, said Mr Gooda.

He added, however, that Indigenous people and other Australians advocating for change should not lose hope, since recommendations for constitutional change would give them another opportunity to push for reform. Community forums have shown that 80 percent of Australians approve of the removal from the constitution of provisions which allow for racist lawmaking.

‘We’re now in the 21st century and those [provisions in two sections of the constitution] don’t reflect what Australians want’, he said. “I’m positive, I’m optimistic, that things are going to change.’

Mr Gooda said that although he expected some opposition to the recommendations, he was certain that constitutional change would benefit not only Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, but all the people of Australia.

‘This is when the people speak. It’s going to be up to people like us to go and argue for this, and so we have to arm you with the information.’

Mr Gooda added that a referendum on constitutional change would take the spirit of Sorry Day a step further, finally settling the issue of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status in Australia.

‘Think about how we felt on Sorry Day, and think about how we’ll feel when we wake up on a Sunday morning maybe a year from now knowing we’ve voted yes. It’s not an opportunity that every generation gets.’

By Catherine Marshall