I acknowledge the people of the Yolngu nation, their elders, leaders and families who have contributed so much to Australia.
In particular, I acknowledge the Gumatj clan whose lands we are meeting on today.
I acknowledge all my colleagues here with me at Garma, I want to make special mention of two.
Linda Burney was born into an Australia that viewed her as second-class – yet she has led a life of profound firsts.
A proud Wiradjuri woman who became the first Indigenous member of Australia’s oldest Parliament in New South Wales.
The first Indigenous woman elected to the Australian House of Representatives – and the first to serve as a Minister in Cabinet.
On the day she announced her retirement, Linda said: “I was the first, I won’t be the last”.
How right she was.
Malarndirri McCarthy is our new Minister for Indigenous Australians.
A strong Yanyuwa woman, a daughter of the Gulf and a fiercely proud Territorian.
Her life and her values drive her to make a difference, to match words with action.
That’s the priority for her – and for our entire Government.
Every year, in this extraordinary place, we have opportunity to share in the power of culture and country, to learn from the wisdom of history and tradition.
Garma offers us the chance to stand on the shoulders of giants.
And Garma asks us to be ambitious for what we see ahead, for the future we can build together.
It was in that spirit, that two years ago, when I stood here for the first time as Prime Minister, I renewed a commitment I had given here as Labor Leader.
I promised my Government would give every Australian the opportunity to answer the gracious and generous invitation contained in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
We would do this by holding a referendum on constitutional recognition through a Voice, in our first term.
Like all of you, I understood the high bar we had to clear, the historical record we were up against.
I knew success could not be guaranteed.
But as I said here at Garma on that day: “We recognise the risk of failure – we also recognise the risk of failing to try.”
Afterwards, when I stepped from this stage, Yunupingu shook my hand, looked me in the eye and asked me: ‘Are you serious?’
I said: ‘Yes, we’re going to do it.’
That was the only guarantee I could offer: that my colleagues and I would not waver, we would keep going when the going got tough, we would give our all.
We gave that undertaking – and we held to it.
Because we were determined to fulfil the request Indigenous Australians had made of us.
And because we believed it was the right thing to do, in the best interests of the nation.
We campaigned on the basis of conviction, not out of convenience.
We did that alongside so many of you, and so many inspirational Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders from all over our country.
Leaders who were already known and respected – and a new generation who brought their passion and vision to the campaign.
They were joined by tens of thousands of Australians from all walks of life, people drawn from every faith and background and tradition.
Together, we gave our all. And we fell short.
I understand, particularly for those who had dedicated years of their life to this cause, the pain is still raw.
As Prime Minister – I made it clear from the outset I accepted the result, respected the decision and took responsibility.
And I have not returned to Garma today to talk about what might have been.
I have not come back to this place of fire, to rake through the ashes.
I am here because my optimism for a better future still burns.
My trust in the resilience and wisdom of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people remains undiminished.
And because the destination we seek, the Australia we imagine: more united, more reconciled, more confident and more equal – this nation remains within our reach.
We can be a country where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have power over their destiny.
Where your children can flourish, as they walk in two worlds.
We can confront the legacy of dispossession and tackle the realities of disadvantage.
We can close the gap.
These aspirations for a better future did not end last October.
And nor did the respect, understanding and co-operation that will take us there.
The point and the purpose of seeking advice from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has always derived its strength from the simple truth that no Government, no Prime Minister, no Parliament has all the answers.
My colleagues and I do not pretend to have discovered them now.
Instead, we want to work with you – with new ambition, energy and determination – to find a new way forward.
As Djawa says: ‘To look up to the future’.
We do this understanding that the change so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been seeking and advocating for years, decades, even lifetimes was not defined or determined by one day.
It has always been about positive, practical and lasting change in people’s lives and in the life of our nation.
From remote communities to our cities and regional centres, where the challenges can be very different – but the consequences and human cost are too often the same.
At its core, this is about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people having an equal right to make a good life for yourselves and your children.
A healthy family, a safe home, a great education that opens the way to a rewarding job.
No more than any Australian asks for – no less than every Australian deserves.
And yet so far removed from reality, for so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
That truth cuts hard in a country that has always seen itself as the home of the fair go.
It’s one of the reasons these challenges are often pushed to the margins of the national conversation.
Last year they were brought to the centre, put in the spotlight.
And for all the divergence of views, no-one can make a case for the economic and social status quo.
No-one can credibly argue that recognising the great privilege of sharing this continent with the world’s oldest continuous culture, should not be reflected in our nation’s founding document.
No-one can defend the gaps in life expectancy, health, opportunity, education or justice as inevitable or acceptable.
They are not.
No-one can argue that more of the same is good enough for Australia.
It is not.
No-one can pretend that holding to the same approach will deliver the progress our nation needs.
It will not.
To make meaningful change in the lives of First Nations people, governments must be prepared to make meaningful change in the way we do things.
The ‘how’, as well as the ‘what’.
This is where the value of listening is more important than ever.
The practical need for a better approach is more urgent than ever.
The moral necessity of better results is clearer than ever.
And my Government’s determination to work with you is as strong as ever.
In this, we welcome the work State and Territory governments are doing to advance treaties, agreement-making and truth-telling processes.
Every approach is different, that is a good thing.
It reflects the fact that the process is being shaped by First Nations people in each jurisdiction.
Our Government supports these efforts, we want to see them succeed – and we will give them the time and space to do so.
We remain committed to Makarrata, that powerful Yolngu word gifted to the nation, for coming together after a struggle.
And we will continue to engage in good faith with leaders and communities to decide what the next steps should be at a national level.
Just as we will continue to work with local leaders and traditional owners, as we are with the Mirrar people.
Answering their calls to bring Jabiluka into Kakadu ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Park and keep their lands safe from uranium mining, once and for all.
We continue to work with the Coalition of Peaks, led by Pat Turner to invest in closing the gap – in jobs, housing, health, justice and education.
Indeed, since I came to Garma last year, The CDP is being abolished and replaced with a new Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program.
Real jobs, decent conditions and proper wages for workers in remote communities, including hundreds of tradies to help build 2,700 new homes in remote communities across the NT and upgrade many more.
The result of a 10 year, $4 billion housing partnership with the Territory Government.
A plan to employ and train more local workers and apprentices, grow local Indigenous businesses and halve the rate of overcrowding.
And housing construction in those communities is ahead of schedule.
In Maningrida, Milingimbi, Yirrkala and elsewhere new projects are bringing safe, reliable drinking water to communities at long last.
We are investing $109 million of new money in First Nations justice programs across Australia.
Working with elders and leaders to prevent crime, boost community safety – and rescue young people from the life-limiting consequences of incarceration.
In June, we opened a new dialysis clinic in Coober Pedy. We will open more in Yalata, Balgo, Harts Range, Ti-Tree and Borroloola.
We know chronic kidney disease is twice as prevalent among Indigenous communities – and four times more likely to be fatal.
The treatment itself is an ordeal and we don’t want people to have to leave family and home behind to go through it.
That’s why we are investing in three more new clinics – on Badu Island in the Torres Strait, in the Pilbara and the Western Desert.
And we are connecting remote communities around the nation to free and reliable Wi-Fi.
We can sometimes take this for granted in our cities – but for communities in the NT, South Australia, Queensland and WA – this is life-changing.
It makes tele-health consultations possible, it gives young people a window onto the world – for study, sport, art and science – and it connects workers and businesses with new opportunities too.
This week, we signed an historic agreement with the NT Government to ensure – for the first time – every single student in every single Territory school will get the fair funding and resources to help them thrive.
I know North East Arnhem Land is home to a great school – where the community is engaged, attendance rates are high and students are taught to strive for the very best.
Today, I am proud to announce that – through a new partnership agreement with the Northern Territory Government and the Yothu Yindi foundation – we will be investing $20 million from the Aboriginal Benefits Account to build The Garma Institute.
A new tertiary and vocational education centre, owned and run by the Yolngu people.
And a new pathway to higher education, right here on country.
All of this is important, all of it seeks to reinforce great work being done by so many of you and so many of the organisations represented here at Garma.
Yet we understand that in too many ways, ongoing progress remains at the mercy of political uncertainty.
Changing this, building true and lasting self-determination, requires economic security.
Security that exists outside of government decisions – and endures beyond them.
And, right now, changes in the global economy are opening up these possibilities.
Growing global demand for renewable energy, critical minerals and rare earths represents an unprecedented opportunity for our nation and for Northern Australia.
Because the North is home to so many of the resources the world needs to make the transformation to clean energy, and so much of the space and sunlight Australia needs to become a renewable energy superpower.
This is the biggest change in the global economy since the industrial revolution.
And it also represents the best chance Australia has ever had to bring genuine self-determination and lasting economic empowerment to remote communities.
New clean energy projects, new defence and security projects, new processing and refining facilities can all unlock new jobs and prosperity for Indigenous communities.
By partnering with locals from the beginning, we can avoid the exploitation and injustices of the past.
And we can tackle the poverty and lack of opportunity that has seen disadvantage entrenched in these parts of our country over generations.
Together, we can seize this moment to build a better future on a simple principle.
The principle that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people deserve a real say in the economic development of the land you call home. And you deserve your fair share of the benefits that flow from it.
This is about so much more than consulting communities in the service of cultural or heritage considerations, as important as that remains.
Because you deserve more than the right to protect what you already have.
You are more than curators or custodians, you are the traditional owners, who have cared for land and waters for 60,000 years and more.
And we want you to have ownership of your future – built on a foundation of economic empowerment.
This is about good jobs that change lives and strengthen communities – that provide a sense of pride and purpose, hope and aspiration.
New careers in clean energy, construction, the care economy, technology, infrastructure and resources.
These are creators of inter-generational opportunity. And our Government wants to put the building blocks in place so that the success of a local industry lifts up the whole community.
Roads and power and water.
Bridges and ports, airstrips and communications infrastructure.
The housing and schools and health services.
This is about unlocking the potential of the land but more importantly liberating the potential of the people who call it home.
Of course, this spans the whole of government.
So to sharpen the focus on delivery and strengthen accountability, we are creating a new First Nations Economic Partnership with the Coalition of Peaks.
A new partnership for a new direction – with greater independence, real empowerment and lasting economic security for communities.
We know important work is being done already by the Coalition of Peaks and the First Nations Economic Empowerment Alliance.
And I have made it clear to both my Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and Treasury to get right behind these efforts.
Because our Government shares your belief in the opportunities this time of economic transformation has to offer.
And we share your determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to seize them.
To maximise the benefits for communities, right from the outset.
Not an add-on, not an afterthought – part of it from the start, in on the ground floor.
The same purpose underwrites the community benefit principles in our landmark Future Made in Australia Act.
We want Government investment to drive engagement between businesses and communities, maximising local jobs and long-term benefit.
And we want to see the same commitment in the First Nations Clean Energy Strategy we are developing with the states and territories.
We want projects generating renewable energy on country, to bring new economic power to communities.
Some of the changes we need to make are not political, they are practical. For example, many of the more than 270 native title bodies don’t have the resources to engage in commercial negotiations.
Equally, there are many companies that wouldn’t know where to start, who to talk to or how to make a worthwhile agreement.
Too often, the result is a stalemate.
Where communities miss out on a say over their future and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people miss out on good jobs close to home.
Our Government is determined to change this.
Part of our Future Made in Australia agenda is clearing away red tape and create a new ‘front door’ to accelerate and co-ordinate transformational investment.
If we can do this for industry and companies, we must do it for Indigenous communities.
That’s why we are partnering with the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance to create a central point of contact in communities to connect traditional owners and investors.
This is being led by First Nations peoples, joined-up with all the land councils, the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Native Title Council and other relevant Indigenous organisations.
Meaning investors and developers, companies and job-creators can directly contact communities.
And ensuring that investment in northern Australia delivers practical benefits that make a positive difference.
To bring this same spirit of empowerment to our cities and regional centres, we will also be boosting the investment, borrowing and lending power of Indigenous Business Australia.
This is about driving higher rates of First Nations home ownership.
And lifting investment in Indigenous businesses and employers, all over the nation.
Rewarding and incentivising wealth creation.
Professor Peter Yu, who is here today, has spoken about the fact that Australia has never attempted this before.
Never pursued what he calls a ‘comprehensive economic policy for Indigenous peoples’.
Let me make it clear: our Government will take up that challenge.
We know this has not been tried before on a national scale. We understand this is a new approach.
That should not be cause for concern – it is a reason for optimism.
We are living with what’s been tried before.
We know where the old models take us, we know where the old road leads.
We have to make a new path – and walk it together.
Since 1999, Garma has offered us an opportunity to celebrate the contribution Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make to our nation.
A chance for Australians of all backgrounds and beliefs to share in the living brilliance of the world’s oldest continuous culture.
Art, song and dance shaped by a profound love of this country.
And success stories taking in every field of national endeavour.
Each one the product of hard work, creativity and great determination.
And each one a story of resilience.
A reminder that so much of what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have achieved for our country and given to our country, has been in the face of overwhelming odds.
You know that, you have lived it.
You have endured setbacks and disappointment, yet you have met every challenge with courage and perseverance, optimism and grace.
You have kept the fire burning.
You have kept the faith.
And my Government will keep faith with you.
My colleagues and I came to Garma to renew our commitment to a better future for First Nations People.
We will leave here more determined than ever to bring it into being.
So with new urgency, new purpose and new co-operation.
Let us work together, to achieve new success.
