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The Uluru Statement from the Heart has been awarded the Sydney Peace Prize, four years after it was delivered to the Australian people.
The landmark statement - an agreement of 250 Indigenous delegates that calls for a constitutionally-enshrined Indigenous Voice to Parliament - was issued to Australians on 26 May, 2017.
The prize was revealed on Wednesday, with the jury saying the statement brought together Australia s First Nations Peoples around a clear and comprehensive agenda for healing and peace within our nation .
“The Uluru Statement from the Heart is a powerful and historic offering of peace,” Sydney Peace Foundation chair, Archie Law, said in a media release.
Foreign policy is an expression of a state’s fundamental values. It’s the outward face of every government, representing its aspirations in the international system. A state’s foreign policy can often convey strength, but also reveal weakness.
While Australia has enjoyed a strong international standing in recent decades, there has been no real recognition within our foreign policy of the diverse First Nations that have long inhabited this land.
First Nations people are excluded from this external dialogue, and it is well past time this changed.
A history of exclusion
As a proud Wiradjuri man, I know all too well this feeling of exclusion for First Nations people, both here and overseas. Our views on foreign policy are routinely considered irrelevant, our contributions not valued, and our issues ignored.
As the 1967 referendum on Aboriginal recognition shows, if people are presented with a clear choice in a non-partisan way, they will overwhelmingly back progress.
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Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt says the mood of Australians towards achieving reconciliation had changed âsignificantlyâ since he came to federal Parliament and he believes the nation is ready to constructively debate the issue.
The first Aboriginal Australian elected to the House of Representatives said he senses an âundercurrentâ in Australian society that was looking at many issues to do with Indigenous Australians in a way he had never seen before.
Indigenous Australian Minister Ken Wyatt says the nation is ready to debate constitutional recognition.
Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
Buraadja:
The Liberal Case For National Reconciliation, by his colleague, NSW senator Andrew Bragg on Thursday, Mr Wyatt said he believed âmore and moreâ people were caring enough to speak out and do something about it.