It is to the Commonwealth of Australia's lasting shame that until 1967 indigenous Australians were treated as aliens, and in many ways inferior aliens, in their own country. There is a delicate balance to be maintained. Interference in the lifestyle adopted by indigenous people must be a thing of the past, but assistance should be readily available to ensure that the right to life, which is a basic human right, is the right of all indigenes. We believe that all citizens of Australia should have access to health care. It is a mark of a civilised society to make good health care available to its citizens.
Education is the key word to equality in national citizenship.
It is not inappropriate to remember that in the nearly 150 years since Earl Grey sounded the warning note about depriving Aboriginal tribes of their subsistence, the deprivation has continued. Above all, if reconciliation is our aim, and it must be if we are to be a proud nation, it can come only with a change of heart for all Australians, black and white. Reconciliation implies a recognition of past wrongs, a forgiveness of past wrongs and a firm intention to go forward as one undivided nation.