Heal Country, heal our nation is this year’s NAIDOC theme, “calling for stronger measures to recognise, protect, and maintain all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage”. This can be seen as a companion to the united recommendation to the Australian government from First Nations peoples across the country through the Uluru Statement from the Heart with its calls for Voice, treaty, and truth.
Our mission at Next25 reflects this desire to heal our nation, to maximise and share success across and between generations for all Australians. This remains a particularly elusive ideal for many First Nations communities and for Country. For First Nations, “Country is the interdependent relationship between an individual and their ancestral lands and sea”. Spoken of like a person, Country encompasses family, traditions, and language.
The public endorses NAIDOC’s call. We surveyed over 2,800 members of the public for Next25 Navigator. More than 6 in 10 Australians say respecting our First Nations culture and heritage in everyday life is important. For those under 30, it is the 6th poorest tracking aspiration (out of 39). Further, picking up elements of healing Country, more than 7 in 10 Australians say caring for our natural environment, plants, and animals is important. This is the 2nd poorest tracking aspiration for those under 30.
Alongside this, there is almost universal public support for reconciliation. The 2020 Australian Reconciliation Barometer found 95% of Australians believe the relationship with First Nations peoples is important. Mass public mobilisations and our national dialogue also reflect this support over time, from the 250,000 people who marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge for Corroboree 2000 to the public outcry at Rio Tinto’s destruction of a 46,000 year old Aboriginal sacred site in Juukan Gorge last year, to name just two.
Despite the public demanding Australia do better, the situation remains dire. In 1991, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was published. Four-hundred-and-seventy-four First Nations people have died in custody since. In 2009, the first Closing the Gap report was published. Over ten years later in 2020, only two of the seven targets are on track. In 2017, the Uluru Statement from the Heart was released, calling for constitutional recognition of First Nations Voice. While significant work has been undertaken, nothing has been formally implemented.
Why are we still so far away from the much-needed “substantive institutional, structural, and collaborative reform” that NAIDOC calls for?
Next25’s research and engagement reveal that these failures are perpetuated by a system that is fundamentally not fit for purpose. There are deep flaws in the system that plague many areas requiring transformation – not only healing Country and First Nations justice, but also issues such as climate change, taxation, and gender equality.
Through Next25 Recoded, we engage a diversity of leaders across Australian society about how Australia makes its future and where the biggest opportunities are to improve what we call the future-making system. We have found that drivers of this system failure include the dominance of vested interests (eg, mining companies over land and cultural rights), an aversion to making mistakes and taking bold action, a lack of diverse representation in leadership (eg, First Nations people make up 0.4% of senior leaders in Australian organisations, while making up 3.3% of the population), and a lack of consideration about the future.
Findings from Recoded also support the Uluru Statement from the Heart’s call for Voice and truth. In terms of Voice, there is a clear disappointment that Australia – home to the world’s oldest living culture – is missing an opportunity to embrace First Nations wisdom and knowledge of Country, whether applying the practice of Dadirri (deep listening) or incorporating traditional land management and fire prevention. In terms of truth, there is a strong sentiment that Australia cannot successfully face current and future challenges until the country is honest about the treatment of First Nations peoples and celebrates Australia’s 60,000 years of pre-colonial human history.
Australians are clear that First Nations injustices and inequities outlined above cannot continue for another 230 years. As this year’s NAIDOC theme states, it is beyond time “for fair and equitable resolutions … that redress historical injustice … and empower and celebrate First Nations communities, nations, and heritage”. Australia cannot remain complacent with a system that upholds the status quo. In fact, our research indicates that implementing two key recommendations from First Nations Australians – Voice and truth –will not only meet NAIDOC’s calls but also improve the overall future-making system, enabling the future all Australians want on a range of issues.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart invited everyone to walk with the First Nations community in a movement of Australian people for a better future. The call by NAIDOC to heal Country, heal our nation echoes this. It is past time we took up the invitation.
Next25 acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea, and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.