Parliamentary Inquiry into the Truth & Justice Commission
Submission to the Inquiry into the
Truth and Justice Commission Bill 2024
My name is Bridget Jones and I live on Turrbal and Yuggera country. I was born and raised in Aotearoa New Zealand, emigrated to Australia at the age of 29 and became an Australian citizen soon after. Twenty years on, I have come to love Australia as beautiful, generous and diverse country. I have learned more about Australia’s history, and the culture of First Nations people, in my search to understand my adopted home.
A New Zealand friend once warned me against emigrating to Australia because he said it was a racist country, and I didn’t want to believe him. Even though I knew that First Nations peoples did not have a Treaty with the Queen, and that were they not given the right to vote until the 1960’s. So, although these injustices were in the back of my mind they were out of sight and so I chose not to think about them, at first.
The ongoing difficulty of ‘coming to terms’ with confronting colonial histories is not unique to Australians or New Zealanders. It has been described as a product of forgetting or historical amnesia; epistemologies of ignorance; historical denial; racism; indifference; disbelief; cultural difference about what counts as historical knowledge; and the impact of shame and guilt[1]. There are also psychological explanations – including the use of forgetting to protect the identity of a nation. Historian Ann Curthoys explained this as the struggle ‘between those which place white Australians as victims, struggling heroically against adversity and, those which place them as aggressors, bringing adversity upon others.’[2]
The history of Australia is rich with stories of noble and terrible deeds that make up the fabric of who we are as a nation today. Although many stories from the voices of First Nations people have been told they have not yet been widely heard. This makes it easier for my fellow white Australians to blame First Nations people for the dire closing the gap statistics than to consider the role our colonial ancestors played in bringing this about. The perpetuation of racism in Australian depends upon non-Indigenous Australians continuing to know little, if not nothing, about colonial history, and the heinous crimes committed by generations of settlers and administrations.
Non-Indigenous Australians have a responsibility to listen deeply to the ways in which the settler colonial system continues to benefit them. Today, some people resent the cost of providing services and infrastructure to First Nations communities because they do not understand the profound impact of inter-generational trauma. Colonials began with the invasion of First Nation’s lands, hunting, raping and murdering people, forcing them from their country, requiring them to work for low wages and to seek permission to marry, stealing children from families, stealing wages, imprisoning people for spurious reasons (such as being unclean), and stealing people’s inheritance.
These crimes should be heard by Non-Indigenous Australians as part of this truthtelling process, and appropriate acknowledgement and remorse need to be demonstrated by Non-Indigenous Australian communities, leaders and institutions, and a pathway needs to be laid for fair and reasonable reparations.
Truthtelling was a key demand of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people expressed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Gomeroi scholar Heidi Norman has emphasised the cultural and political aspects of truthtelling for First Nations Australians, arguing that ‘the impulse to tell “our story” and develop “a shared sense of history” functions as something of “a plea” from Aboriginal people to have their historical experiences acknowledged and understood by the broader community with the hope that this will then result in political change.’[3]
The most recent Australian Reconciliation Barometer report indicates that 83% of the general community and 87% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people believe it is important to undertake formal truthtelling processes to acknowledge the reality of Australia’s shared history.[4] Australians generally believe institutions should help to improve reconciliation, and when it comes to closing the gap in areas of disadvantage, the majority believes governments and the private sector must do more.
The establishment of a national Truth and Justice Commission would complement and support the many community-led truthtelling processes that are underway at a local level and encourage these place-based processes to be established in other communities. It has been well established that many First Nations Peoples believe that engaging in these local, community-led truthtelling processes with their non-Indigenous neighbours and community members will be a powerful and transformative process that can change how individuals see each other and develop greater collective responsibility and social cohesion. Recent research shows that the impact of truthtelling for non-Indigenous people was drawn from the power of hearing about the personal experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples firsthand[5].
There is a strong need for non-Indigenous Australians to be better educated in the purpose of truthtelling – as well as the appropriate ways to become involved and to conduct ourselves. Deep listening is something that most people struggle with – particularly when we are hearing information that conflicts with our own beliefs. It is crucial that non-Indigenous Australians prepare ourselves for this process so we can approach it with delicacy and respect for First Nations people, culture and history.
Research has shown there are many benefits to non-Indigenous Australians taking part in truthtelling including; recognising the importance of truthtelling to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; recognising diversity among First Nations peoples; improved understanding of history, cultures, perspectives and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; the opportunity to connect with Elders; understanding the impact of racism, white privilege, intergenerational trauma, violence on First Nations communities; and improved understanding of connection to Country[6].
Finally, I fully support the Truth and Justice Commission Bill 2024 which would establish a national Truth and Justice Commission to inquire into and make recommendations to Parliament on matters relating to historic and ongoing injustices against First Peoples in Australia and the impacts of these injustices on First Peoples.
The process should be carefully considered, and I endorse the recent UNSW research findings that truthtelling in Australia should[7]:
• be led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities
• engage with First Nations perspectives
• recognise the ongoing impacts of the past on First Nations people’s lives today
• be ongoing, not a ‘one-off’ event
• aim to achieve change, whether at an attitudinal, institutional or structural level.
I also believe that truthtelling should be strengths-based and invite non-Indigenous Australians to consider how First Nations perspectives, culture and connection to Country could play a more central role in the way Australia operates. It is important for all Australians to hear about First Nations people’s history of resistance, heroism, and triumph. Truthtelling can also be a way to help counter negative stereotypes of First Nations communities as disempowered by giving voice to their stories of strength. The historian Henry Reynolds found that all over the continent, Aboriginal people ‘bled as profusely and died as bravely’ as soldiers in Australia’s 20th century overseas.[8]
Truthtelling should include the friendships between First Nations Peoples and non-Indigenous Australians. There are stories to be told of First Nations People saving colonial settlers lives at risk to their own, sheltering them, and at times forming lasting and deep relationships.[9] There are examples too of colonial settlers who respected, befriended, aided and defended First Nations people. These stories need to be heard, to remind us that mutual connections, respect, and friendships across cultures are also part of our national history.
I hope the truthtelling process can serve an important role in building our national memory. I urge you to consider that any delay may mean that First Nations elders who could testify now to events in the 20th Century may sadly not be able to participate.
I am hopeful that the Australian Government has the moral courage to enact this legislation, so we can listen deeply to the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people and make the changes needed to improve their lives in a meaningful way.
I sincerely thank the Committee for the opportunity to contribute to this Inquiry and hope my perspective as a new Australian will be considered.
Yours sincerely
Bridget Jones
Footnotes & References
[1] Payne, AM and Norman, H (2024), “Coming to terms with the past? Identifying barriers and enablers to truthtelling and strategies to promote historical acceptance”, Indigenous Land and Justice Research Group, School of Humanities & Languages, UNSW.
[2] Curthoys, A. (1999). Expulsion, exodus and exile in white Australian historical mythology. Journal of Australian Studies, 23(61), p. 3.
[3] Quoted in Lindsey, K., Smith, M., Clark, A., Batty, C., Brien, D., & Landers, R. (2022). ‘Creative histories’ and the Australian context. History
Australia, 19(2), p. 334.
[4] ‘The Australian Reconciliation Barometer (ARB), Reconciliation Australia
[5] Payne, AM and Norman, H (2024)
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Reynolds, H. (2006). The Other Side of the Frontier: Aboriginal Resistance to the European invasion of Australia. UNSW Press.
[9] Maynard, J and Haskins, V, ABC RN, 6 April 2018 “Living with the locals: six extraordinary first contact stories of friendship and survival”
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