The Uluru Statement has promoted an unprecedented dialogue about the relationship between First Nations people and the Australian Nation State.
黑料天堂Vice-President (First Nations) Professor Peter Yu has delivered a powerful speech calling for economic self-determination for Aboriginal people in the Kimberley and beyond to break the cycle of inequality.
Delivering the University of Notre Dame Australia鈥檚 annual Nulungu Reconciliation Lecture at the Broome Campus, Professor Yu, a Yawuru man, said: 鈥淚 see the potential for growing an Aboriginal economy incorporating land management, tourism, renewable energy, housing development and whole range of services which could translate to full employment of all our people who are able to work.鈥
"As necessary, as you might think the current national commitment to 鈥楥losing the Gap鈥 is good and needed, believe me, it will not deliver its intended purpose.鈥
Professor Yu told the audience he sees reconciliation through an economic lens and believes that economic determination is the best way for First Nations people to end government dependency.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about First Nations economic development on our terms,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t is about how development occurs on First Nations land under the guidelines that Australia has signed up to under the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.鈥 Professor Yu shared his long personal journey towards reconciliation dating back to the 1970s in remote Kimberley communities, including major political and policy milestones. 鈥淚 have a sense that we are at a point of national reckoning," he said.
"The Uluru Statement has promoted an unprecedented dialogue about the relationship between First Nations people and the Australian Nation State.鈥
Speaking to an audience of community members, students, staff and academics, Professor Yu outlined the themes that are emerging through his work in collaboration with First Nations people, academic researchers, industry and government.
