Every year on this day we are confronted, as a nation, by the weight of our shared history 1/12

Every year it manifests through different but similar arguments - pulling us apart whilst at the same time calling on us to face the challenges of truth telling together, so that we can experience the healing our nation craves and deserves. 2/12

In the first few weeks of 2021 alone we’ve heard a Prime Minister compare the experiences on the ships and from the shore as being “not so flash” in equal measure - a profound misrepresentation of the impact that moment has had on where we find ourselves today. 3/12

We’ve seen a sporting code do what others haven’t had the courage to do and we’ve seen its high profile players and those of other codes back it in, even in the face of great criticism. 4/12

We’ve seen individuals who espouse bigotry elevated to the highest levels of recognition in this country and others who have forgone that same recognition to be at one with their values. This day with all its complexities is in many ways heralding… 5/12

…a seismic, inevitable change in this country and our understanding of who we are as a nation. Yet we continue to argue back and forth ignoring the ever present weight of our past. 6/12

Change the date or don’t change the date, I’m not sure either way if it would resolve the perpetual argument. What’s actually required is a fearless commitment to telling the truth of our shared past - the sometimes ugly, uncomfortable, hard to talk about truth. 7/12

A truth that includes exposing the decades long frontier wars that took place across this continent and all the atrocities that accompanied it including the massacre of thousands of people on the grounds that they weren’t regarded as human anyway. 8/12

A truth that peels back the layers of policy and legislation that for years have been trying to resolve stolen lands, generations and wages without seeking out the core reasons there’s a gap to be closed in the first place. 9/12

A truth that if embraced could provide a sense of healing that I truly believe will help propel us into a brighter, more prosperous future for all Australians. A future that allows us all, whatever our backgrounds, to feel a deep pride in our place in this great nation. 10/12

Today I join with thousands of people from all walks of life across the country marching to fearlessly acknowledge the weight of our shared history and commit to the process of truth telling however uncomfortable it may be. 11/12

So that the words of Quandamooka woman Aunty Oodgeroo Noonuccal may ring as true into the future as the day she dreamed them: “To our fathers' fathers the pain, the sorrow; To our children's children the glad tomorrow.” #alwayswasalwayswillbe #treaty 12/12