AustLit

'Just over thirty years ago, the song Treaty by Yothu Yindi topped the Australian charts. Treaty was the first pop song written by an Aboriginal artist to chart in Australia and the first to include Yolŋu Matha language. The song's political message is clear: it laments the government's failure to deliver a treaty as described in the Barunga Statement and calls for a negotiated treaty to recognise Indigenous sovereignty and improve relationships between Indigenous peoples and government. Thirty years after Yothu Yindi's song, talk about treaty continues, now focused on the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart. This paper briefly explores the history of treaty discussions in Australia and considers the implications of the three milestones outlined in the Uluru Statement: Voice, Treaty and Truth. The author joins the growing calls for action and proposes that all Australians need to be involved in pushing for constitutional change, which will enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament. Australians cannot stand by and let political inaction stall the process for another 30 years.'(Publication abstract)

'Intergroup apologies by Governments for past wrongs are almost commonplace within Australia. These types of apologies are designed to accomplish two things: to publicly acknowledge the wrongdoing; and to rebuild trust in a new relationship with the victim group.

'It has been 14 years since the Rudd apology to the Stolen Generation; February 13th, 2022, marked the Anniversary of the Apology, and there were celebrations to mark the occasion. There was also a strong call for the Governments of Australia to do more to build better relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in particular the Stolen Generations.

'These calls generally recognised that since the apology, successive governments have relied on the education aspect of the apology to be their focus, not the rebuilding of the relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This has led to the victim groups' increasingly poor Social and Emotional Wellbeing.'(Publication abstract)