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Indigenous Recognition In Australia

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There has been an abundance of injustices suffered by the original owners of our land which still continue to this day but since WW2, which occurred from 1939-1945, Indigenous Recognition has been one of the rapidly changing important issues in Australian society. Although there has been a shift towards recognition, which has helped to shape this nation into a more diverse and accepting nation, we have still not come far enough to Recognition. Indigenous Recognition is defined as having a voice to parliament, treaties and truth telling in history. Before WW2, Indigenous people were not spoken about, their recognition was minimal, and most Australians did not fully understand the horrific events they had endured. Our contemporary nation has …show more content…
There was little, if anything written about Indigenous History and the impact that colonisation and invasion had on their lives. The Colonisers in 1788 brought diseases, and took all their land while destroying sacred sites, which they had lived on for centuries. Aboriginal people were forced to carry around certificates stating who they were and leave their sacred customs behind. They were known as Flora and Fauna and had no rights. Until after WW2 they were not classed as citizens, meaning they were not allowed to vote. After WW2 Indigenous people who had served in war were treated terribly, being denied entry into local RSL branches and some had their wages stolen. For decades, Indigenous veterans have asked for better acknowledgement of their service to Australia as they have assisted in all conflicts since federation. In 2017, for the first time, Indigenous veterans led the national ANZAC Day …show more content…
Our attitudes and politics have changed significantly, with the Rudd government delivering an apology in 2008 on “behalf of all the people of Australia to the stolen generations” as written about by Hillary Glow and Katya Johanson. Since 2010, there has been a bipartisan agreement for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The Gillard government made an agreement with the Greens and established an Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition to consider the question most likely to succeed to referendum time. Due to the expert panel, Labour passed an Act of Recognition which recognised commitment to constitutional recognition, the unique place of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and public education campaign. Currently in 2018 Malcom Turnbull established, a new parliamentary committee looking at reconciliation and the Indigenous Constitution held the first of many meetings in regard to going forward on Indigenous recognition. As stated by Nakari Thorpe, the government is looking for common ground and a way forward on the critical matters in regard to the future of Australia and Indigenous people. The committee wants to consult with Indigenous people and engage them more so that they can buy-into the new policies meaning these policies will be more successful if it is what the Indigenous people are happy with. Mr Yu, part of the ‘Indigenous

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