At the end of the day, this Council will put forward proposals which it thinks will do this. Ms Scott said that the overwhelming majority of Australians believe that reconciliation is an important issue for the nation, as revealed in recent Newspoll research commissioned by the Council. She further noted that an encouraging clear majority believed in principle that a reconciliation document might help relations between Aboriginal people and the wider community. The widespread support for reconciliation also places great responsibility on leaders in all sections of this nation to help us achieve such outcomes. Ms Scott said that the Council still believed the best outcome would be broad agreement on a document which both expressed the aspirations of Australians for reconciliation and set out practical steps and commitments to make a real difference to the quality of life of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Reconciliation is a doing thing.
It is ongoing. Ms Scott said that the Council heard addresses from both the Prime Minister, Mr Howard, and Opposition Leader, Mr Beazley, and engaged in discussion with both leaders. Our discussions with Mr Howard and Mr Beazley were confidential but I can say that we intend to go back to all the federal parliamentary leaders as we finalise our proposals about a document. We also emphasised our desire that Council s Corroboree 2000 event on May 27-28 in Sydney would be a unifying, inspiring event which would mark an historic milestone on the long road to reconciliation. Deputy Chairperson Sir Gustav Nossal said that the Council was proceeding with its plans for the Corroboree 2000 event.