Launch of QANTAS Yes livery
Well, thanks so much Alan and I also begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we’re meeting today and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.
And I am proud to lead a Government which will give every Australian the opportunity to vote for Constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at a referendum later this year.
I want to acknowledge my parliamentary colleagues who are here, the executive and staff of Qantas who are here, the people from the Yes23 campaign.
And particular shout out, I think people won’t mind, to a former Australian of the Year, Adam Goodes, and a hero for so many Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous.
The Spirit of Australia says Yes.
And the Spirit of Australia says Yes, because this will assist reconciliation in a practical way.
There is a debate in this country that will take place in coming weeks.
And I get asked about ‘why is it that you support this form of recognition?’
The answer to that is very simple.
And we can go back, as Alan said, to 2014 when the Qantas livery on their planes, those planes that travel around Australia with the big ‘R’ for recognise is a reminder that this is the journey of which began a long time ago.
And as I said at Garma, and I repeat again today, 122 years after Federation, 56 years after the 1967 referendum, six years after the First Nations Constitutional Convention gathered at Uluru.
After an extensive process involving thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves, hundreds of meetings, produced, I think, an extraordinary concise, uplifting Uluru Statement from the Heart.
On one page, a single page, a gracious invitation to non-Indigenous Australia to advance our country.
To do something for Indigenous Australians by showing them respect, but to do something for all of us, to lift up our nation.
If not now, when? If not us, who?
In 2023 we will give every Australian the opportunity, in coming weeks, not long to go now, to do that, to show respect, to uplift our whole nation.
And to send a message to the world that we are a confident mature nation prepared to come to terms with the fullness and richness of our history.
To be proud of the fact that we share this great island continent of ours with the oldest continuous culture on earth.
The day after the referendum, the day after, it will be such a wonderful moment.
Because the alternative is more of the same, the same that sees us achieving just four out of 19 Closing the Gap targets being on track.
We can do better, we must do better, we will do better when Australians vote for recognition.
And I say to Qantas, not just because I’m a former Transport Minister, but there is no company in Australia that immediately says Australia, like this brand of Qantas.
And you have such a fine history of having a long-standing commitment to the cause of reconciliation.
Qantas has a long history of doing its bit to carry the nation, to lift all of us a little bit higher, both literally and figuratively.
And that is what this is about.
I do remember the impact in the mid 1990s, when you first unveiled the first of your fleet, decked out in an Indigenous design, the striking red of the Wunala dreaming, an unmistakable sight against the vivid blue sky that defines our continent.
Another 747 followed, Nalanji dreaming, a Boeing 747 named for a Yanyuwa word, meaning our place.
A stirring image if you’re lucky enough to glimpse both of them together on a tarmac somewhere around our great country or indeed around the world.
It also acknowledged the role of Aboriginal people during the dawn of Australian aviation, as Alan has said.
Whether it be the maintenance of outback air strips or early aviators making use of Indigenous knowledge of local weather patterns.
In the days before weather radar, that knowledge undoubtedly saved lives.
Whether it’s through your flying artwork series or the vision spelled out in the Qantas Group’s First Nations Strategy, your commitment to honouring the oldest continuous culture on earth goes on.
Just as a river of conversations about recognition and the Voice goes on.
Australia has been talking about this for a very long time.
And that is why it is absolutely time for us to say Yes.
For 100 years Qantas has shown the importance of extending ourselves, of reaching higher.
This Yes livery is a worthy addition to that tradition.
And it is in the Spirit of Australia, that statement about Qantas, which defines the way that we are being uplifted.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation for all of us to join together in a better future.
A Yes from all of us, will be the most perfect response.
Yes for recognition. Yes for listening. Yes for better results.
On referendum day, we can answer that gracious request that hand outreached in the great Australian way.
When we meet each other, what do we do? We put our hand out.
That’s what the Uluru Statement represents.
Just asking for that hand to be joined in that most Australian of way that we do when we greet each other as individuals.
This is asking us to join, to have that handshake between Indigenous non-Indigenous Australia.
Let’s meet grace with grace by saying Yes, in the referendum.
Yes to a better future, to back up that Spirit of Australia, which defines who we are.