It s important to understand the impact of the past on the present and the future. But it s even more important in my view to recognise that if you have the right programs any Australian can aspire to the best of their ability. There s nothing that an indigenous person given the right opportunity can t achieve that the rest of the community can achieve. My ideal of reconciliation is equality of opportunity and the way you deliver equality of opportunity is to try and bridge the gaps. What I don t like about the reconciliation debate is that there is a view that the only people who believe in reconciliation are those people who believe in a particular form of reconciliation.
Reconciliation means different things to different people.
To me it s about bridging the gaps, it s about respecting the fact that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have a special culture that is very old and is a very important part of our history, and it s about ensuring that people have equality of opportunity. It s not so much about the delivery of a formal apology. But in the end what matters is that we all have a commitment to achieving reconciliation and I certainly do and my government does too. First of all it s a great honour for us to be here. Prime Minister, I m Cameron Mellam from Melbourne.