Reconciliation Day

**Reconciliation Day** is a public holiday in the Australian Capital Territory marking the start of National Reconciliation Week. It is held on the first Monday after or on 27 May, the anniversary of the 1967 referendum. It was held for the first time on 28 May 2018.

**Reconciliation Australia** is a non-government, not-for-profit foundation established in January 2001 to promote a continuing national focus for reconciliation between Indigenous (i.e. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) and non-Indigenous Australians. It was established by the **Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation** (**CAR**) and subsequently superseded that body in 2001. It organises National Reconciliation Week each year.

The **Australian Reconciliation Network** comprises reconciliation organisations in the six states of Australia.

## History

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which published its final report in April 1991, had recommended the initiation of a process of reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. On 2 September 1991, the Australian Parliament voted unanimously to establish the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and a formal reconciliation process. Parliament had noted that there had been no formal process of reconciliation and that it was “most desirable that there be such a reconciliation” by the year 2001, marking the centenary of Federation. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was established by Parliament, by the *Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991*, to be disbanded after 10 years.

The CAR’s vision statement aimed for "A united Australia which respects this land of ours; values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage; and provides justice and equity for all". Patrick Dodson was the first Chair of CAR.

Reconciliation Australia was established by the CAR in January 2001. The Hon Fred Chaney AO was one of the founding co-chairs, and served for nearly 15 years on the Board until his retirement in November 2014. Jackie Huggins was a co-chair for some time.

### Reconciliation Action Plans

In 2006 Prime Minister John Howard and Professor Mick Dodson launched the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) program, which was to be administered by Reconciliation Australia. Through the program, organisations develop a business plan that documents the actions they will take to contribute to reconciliation in Australia. The practical steps outlined in the RAP aim to help to build strong relationships and enhanced respect between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Community programs, Indigenous employment, and procurement from certified Indigenous businesses are examples of the kinds of actions businesses can take in their RAP.

### "Recognise" campaign

In 2012, Reconciliation Australia established the "Recognise" campaign, following recommendations of the Expert Panel on Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution, which was presented to the federal government under Julia Gillard in January 2012. The Recognise campaign focused specifically on raising awareness among all Australians of the need to change the Constitution, ahead of a referendum. In this it was successful: awareness of the issue rose from 30% to over 75% of the population.

The campaign ended in 2017, when the federal government ceased to fund it, by which time it had attracted the support of more than 318,000 people, and more than 160 community and corporate partner organisations.

## Description

Reconciliation Australia is funded from corporate and government partnerships as well as tax-deductible donations from individual Australians. The organisation works with business, government and individual Australians to bring about change, identifying and promoting examples of reconciliation in action. Reconciliation Australia also independently monitors Australia's progress towards reconciliation.

## Key people

### Board

As of July 2021, board members of Reconciliation Australia are:

* Professor Tom Calma AO (Co-Chair)
* Melinda Cilento (Co-Chair), independent director of Woodside Petroleum
* Kenny Bedford, lives on and represents the remote island of Erub (Darnley) on the Torres Strait Regional Authority
* Bill Lawson AM, retired engineer and advocate for reconciliation, founder of the Beacon Foundation
* Kirstie Parker, an Aboriginal woman of the Yuwallarai people in NSW, and Co-Chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples
* Joy Thomas, served as an adviser and chief of staff to Ministers in the Howard Government
* Sharon Davis, Bardi and Kija woman, Director of Education at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)
* Doug Ferguson, Partner with KPMG

### Executive

* Karen Mundine, Chief Executive Officer, Bundjalung woman with many years of experience in community engagement, public advocacy, and communications

## Australian Reconciliation Network

The Australian Reconciliation Network includes the following independently-run organisations, which organise activities and provide information:

* New South Wales – Reconciliation NSW (formerly NSW Reconciliation Council)
* Queensland – Reconciliation Queensland
* South Australia – Reconciliation SA
* Tasmania – Reconciliation Tasmania
* Victoria – Reconciliation Victoria
* Western Australia – Reconciliation WA

## Canberra's coldest day for 2021 so far, as low drops to -6.3

Canberra has shivered through the second coldest morning of the year. On the day before the start of winter, the mercury dropped to \_6.3 degrees at the Canberra airport monitoring station at 7.22am Monday. The previous low was \_5.4°C, recorded a fortnight ago on Sunday May 16. A meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology said a cold front that went through recently brought really strong southerly air stream that had stayed around for a few days.

Monday was the fourth straight day that temperatures dropped below zero. Canberra is expected to have a sunny day through the rest of Monday, Reconciliation Day, heading for a top of 15°C. Another cold start is forecast for Tuesday morning, when the bureau tips we'll drop to \_3°C with patches of frost and fog. Wednesday is likely to bring an end to this run of minus temperatures, with a forecast low of 1.

 2019
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Although there are still the chance of morning fog and frost. Maximum temperatures this week are forecast to range from 14°C to 16°C, and there's a chance of some rain on Thursday and Friday. During reconciliation morning at about 7:20 a.m. a temperature was recorded as low as 20.7°F (\_6.3°C) which is the coldest Reconciliation Day in history, here in Canberra. This was the coldest reconciliation week since 1976 from the beginning of the week. however, the predictions on the morning of May 30, 2022 in Canberra will be another cold but wet Reconciliation Day. the temperature was 28.4°F (\_2°C) was recorded at 3:20 a.m. which is not as frozen as the previous year. although it is extremely rare to predict those temperatures, a reconciliation morning in Canberra plunges to a minimum of below 23°F (\_5°C) can only happen a few times per century.

1. ↑ Canberra's coldest day for 2021 so far, as low drop to \_6.3.[1]
2. ↑ [2]Coldest day of the year tops off coldest May in decade.