In the 1990s, then Prime Minister John Howard, in an attempt to avoid apologising to the Stolen Generations, coined the term 'practical' reconciliation.
He argued his government focussed on 'practical' reconciliation, such as Indigenous health and education, and would not concern itself with 'symbolic' reconciliation, such as an apology. This false dichotomy of 'symbolic' and 'practical' reconciliation has dominated the political discourse of reconciliation for the subsequent three decades.
All Commonwealth governments since Mr Howard have largely continued to frame Indigenous public policy through the prism of 'symbolic' and 'practical' reconciliation. The Labor Party has been more supportive of 'symbolic' actions, like apologising to the Stolen Generations, and displaying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, than has the Liberal/ National Coalition. Both though have comprehensively failed to genuinely engage with 'practical' actions, such as addressing Indigenous health and education.
What has largely been missing in this focus on 'symbolic' and 'practical' is 'substantive' reconciliation. This encompasses 'symbolic' and 'practical' measures, which are critical, but also many other essential areas, such as recognising Indigenous rights - like self-determination, undertaking Constitutional reform, addressing history and truth-telling, implementing reparative and distributive justice, challenging racism, and privileging Indigenous knowledges and cultures.
In its first term in office, the Albanese government did initially engage in substantive reconciliation. In his election night victory speech in May 2022, Mr Albanese reinforced Labor's previous commitment to implement in full the Uluru Statement from the Heart, with its key areas of Voice, Treaty, and Truth. The government then kept its election commitment to hold a Constitutional Referendum on the establishment of a First Nations Voice to Parliament, which the government held on 14 October, 2023.
However, the Labor government has been justifiably criticised by a number of Voice advocates about several matters regarding its approach to the Voice campaign, including its messaging about the Voice, its lacklustre campaigning, and its failure to postpone the Referendum date once it became clear the proposal would not gather sufficient support.
Further, the Albanese government has been largely neglectful of addressing the significant outpouring of appalling racism that has occurred since the Referendum.
The substantial defeat of the Voice Referendum saw the government completely retreat from its previously long-stated commitments to implement in full the Uluru Statement from the Heart, with Voice, Treaty, and Truth.
Labor has failed to establish a Makarrata Commission that would facilitate an agreement-making process and truth-telling. Instead, speaking at the 2024 Garma Festival, Mr Albanese attempted to redefine the meaning of Makarrata to exclude discussions on treaty and truth-telling.
Rather than engaging with substantive reconciliation and the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Labor instead largely focussed for the rest of its first term on 'practical' reconciliation. Its Indigenous Affairs agenda concentrated on 'Closing the Gap' measures in areas such as housing, education, employment, and health, and advocating for economic empowerment and Indigenous procurement, all of which are very important. However, Labor very conspicuously failed to engage with areas like Indigenous rights.
Labor's landslide victory in the recent 2025 federal election though has provided it with a generational opportunity to genuinely engage in substantive reconciliation. The Albanese government needs to recommit to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and urgently implement a Makarrata Commission to engage with Treaty and Truth-telling. Labor should also explore mechanisms for addressing the shameful and continued exclusion of Indigenous peoples from the Australian Constitution.
Further, the government urgently needs to genuinely address key areas of distributive justice, such as health, education, housing, custody, and employment, and of reparative justice, including implementing all the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the Bringing them Home report, and responding to the appalling levels of racism and white fragility that have become so much more visible since the defeat of the 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum.
Other key areas in which the Labor government needs to address include pushing back against the racist and divisive culture wars, in areas such as Welcomes to Country and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, that have made a shocking comeback in recent years, and more seriously engaging with the United Nations Declaration of the World's Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), like legislating the establishment of an action plan, as countries such as Canada have done, to implement its commitments under UNDRIP.
We will await to see which path the Labor Government's second term will take. Will it be a repeat of its first term, which saw a continuation of the same failed approach to Indigenous Affairs that we have seen from all Commonwealth Governments since they first got the power to legislate in this area with the 1967 Constitutional Referendum? Or will the country finally have a government that genuinely addresses substantive reconciliation and delivers reparative and distributive justice to Indigenous peoples?
Professor Andrew Gunstone is Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor Reconciliation and Professor Indigenous Studies at Federation University, where he leads the National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice. He is also Co-Chair of Reconciliation Victoria and sits on several international, national and regional reconciliation committees.
