The theme for NAIDOC Week 2024 is well considered; 'Keep The Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud'. For many First Nations people it's no surprise the October Referendum outcome was extremely disappointing and disheartening. We require a reset and NAIDOC Week will provide some much-needed cultural celebration after the significant shock of national rejection. Arguably a national reset, to remind everyone just what First Nations people bring to what is an ongoing autocratic society. NAIDOC Week celebrates Aboriginal people for our cultural and spiritual beliefs, and our direct cultural connection to country and community. It also demonstrates we are incredibly resilient and determined.
The failure of the majority of the Australian public to accept the invitation to walk together towards constitutional recognition was a significant bump in the pathway of reconciliation. That journey continues, with determination from a community and leadership level that has never been stronger. I have said many times during the lead-up to the referendum that post vote, no matter the outcome, white Australia in general will wash their hands and immediately move on, however for Blak Australia, the fight for acceptance and recognition would go on regardless. The issues Aboriginal Australia still face today have not miraculously disappeared because the will of the people has 'saved' the Constitution from so-called destruction.
The national silence post vote has been deafening, and NAIDOC Week will be an important opportunity to place Aboriginal people back onto the national stage, loud and proud, rather than as a strategic whisper. What is apparent from the ongoing politically motivated loss of bipartisanship in Aboriginal affairs remains the feeling Government across all levels continue to 'kick the can down the road'. It's a nonsensical argument, yet unsurprising for individuals to continue using the referendum defeat to push what can only be described as their ongoing anti-Aboriginal reconciliation agenda. It just needs to stop and solutions found.
Aboriginal community leaders across Australia were never going to disappear nor will they be silenced in trying to improve the conditions that our people face. Regardless of ongoing frustrations, NAIDOC Week will see communities getting together with family and friends, celebrating culture, yarning, storytelling and proudly raising our flag on country to keep the fires burning, there is no retreat just as there was never a ceding of sovereignty. Through NAIDOC Week there remains an ongoing invitation for all Australians to embrace Aboriginal people and culture as well as recognise our ongoing connection and traditional ownership of Australia. More than 6 million Australians understand it, the ongoing challenge now is to convince those remaining that there is nothing to fear from recognising and embracing it.
NAIDOC Week is an important opportunity for all Australians to engage with and learn about Aboriginal people and culture. If the referendum debate taught us anything it is that many Australians simply don't or don't want to understand who the First Nations people of this continent are, and this detrimentally impacts the equality struggles that exist today.
NAIDOC Week is for Aboriginal people to celebrate who we are, all Australians no matter how they voted last October should continue to embrace NAIDOC Week with a degree of gratitude, to jointly celebrate and be proud of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and our incredible culture for what it is; an intrinsic and ongoing part of the national story. As always, there will be elements or factions pushing back against NAIDOC Week and its theme. Regrettably they will use it to justify ongoing rhetoric to keep Aboriginal people in their place.
Minister Burney in her speech at the NAIDOC Awards, noted one of the key positives over the last 12 months has been our younger Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people stepping up as leaders. I saw that firsthand during the campaign, it was so promising to witness the passion and strength within our younger generations. The NAIDOC theme encapsulating we are Blak and proud is well-timed, and our voices, especially those of our young leaders, will continue to get louder.
This year's NAIDOC Week will be a celebration for who we are as First Nations People. Importantly, it will generate community healing of the open wounds from what was at times a strategically deliberate and intentionally ugly national debate last year.
Keep The Fire Burning! Black, Loud and Proud. Happy NAIDOC Week to all.
Nick Cameron is the chair of the Melythina Tiakana Warrana Aboriginal Corporation and Tasmanian Regional Aboriginal Communities Alliance (TRACA), community representative on the Tasmanian Aboriginal Advisory Group and Director of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Legal Service.
