Barbara McGrady – one of last year’s award recipients and one of this year’s judges – Eddie Mabo Award recipient, Jenny Munro and presenter of the Eddie Mabo Award, Gail Mabo – Photo, Lisa Hogben.
The National Indigenous Human Rights Awards (NIHRA), the brainchild of NSW parliamentarian Shaoquett Moselmane, augur well for the most profound human rights struggle on this continent. In general, I am not a believer in awards, as the stricture of their terms of reference excludes the salt of the earth, excludes the most dedicated and relentless human rights and social justice advocates, those who will not compromise what is right. But thus far the NIHRA are proving differently, doing away with handpicked judges who reflect the values of an organisation – thus far the NIHRA is testing the waters with a diverse select of judges. And it showed in the results, with salt of the earth activists scoring nominations and two of the major awards.
Awards in general do not recognise the most profound advocates, do not recognise those who buck the system, who polarise, but recognise the mediocre and mouthpieces and at best those who go about their work incrementally, diplomatically and do what they do without upsetting the status quo.
I have been called in as a referee many times for award nominees, all the way from Government House, with Order of Australia nominations, right down to said human rights organisations who sponsor their own awards. Some have got up, some have not. However the ones who have not got up are in my view the ones that should have stormed it in.
Where the NIHRA will finish up one day I do not know but for now they have achieved what other awards have not – inclusion of those who fight in the name of others but from the coalface, despite disadvantage, despite the media dismissing them.
The 2nd NIHRA were held on October 14 with SBS journalist Karla Grant as MC, with Deputy Leader of the NSW Labor Party, Linda Burney, delivering the opening speak and with Adelaide based Narungga Elder, Tauto Sansbury delivering the keynote speak. I must say I was impressed with the introduction by Ms Burney – the Wiradjuri parliamentarian spoke like no other Australian parliamentarian has about the dispossession of First Peoples of their lands by the colonists.
“None of our hundreds of nations ever ceded our Country. We have never ceded our lands,” said Ms Burney.
The NIHRA recognise and acknowledge the most powerful social justice struggle in Australia – that of the Aboriginal rights struggle. The NIHRA are Australia’s only all dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait human rights awards.
The NIHRA are comprised of three awards – the Dr Yunupingu Human Rights Award, the Eddie Mabo Life Achievement Award for Social Justice and the Anthony Mundine Courage Award.
The Dr Yunupingu Award was won by Narungga Elder, Tauto Sansbury. Mr Sansbury has dedicated more than five decades to the human rights struggle of his peoples. Mr Sansbury was born on a mission reserve on South Australia’s Yorke peninsula where his Narungga language and his cultural identity were forbidden and stripped from him.
“My father only lived to 49 years of age, so too the same age did my brother live to. I am 66 years old. My father would never have believed that we could be here today in this way. We suffered in the mission. We had to live by the bell and were punished if we spoke in our language. They took everything from us, our identity, our ceremony, our lore, our languages,” said Mr Sansbury.
“I was placed in a boy’s home where I was brutalised… To this day I see a psychologist to deal with the effects, the depression. This is why I do what I do, why I have dedicated my life to fighting for my people, for our children.”
“We are not all equal in this country, not our people. Governments have to start listening to those among us who know best, who live our people.”
Despite the inequality and racism imposed upon him from the beginning of his life, Mr Sansbury is at the forefront of the Aboriginal rights struggle, having come up and from, and always remaining with, the coalface. He argues for redress without compromise, for equality without deal making, for the right to be Aboriginal and Australian without either reducing the other. To continue highlighting the injustices his peoples face to this day, last year Mr Sansbury launched a national advocacy movement – the Freedom Movement. Mr Sansbury was the chairperson of the South Australian Aboriginal Justice Advocacy Committee for more than ten years. He has also been a chair of the South Australian Aboriginal Coalition for Social Justice.
In 1996, Mr Sansbury was awarded NAIDOC’s national Aboriginal person of the year award. In 2014, he was awarded the NAIDOC South Australian male Elder of the Year award. This year, he was awarded NAIDOC’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
The recipient of this year’s Eddie Mabo Social Justice Award is Wiradjuri Elder, Jenny Munro. Ms Munro has been a prominent rights advocate since the early 1970s. She has been at the forefront of Aboriginal rights issues since as a 17 year old at the 1972 Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra. More recently, Ms Munro led the fight to save affordable housing rights for Aboriginal peoples in the inner Sydney area of Redfern, a precinct known as The Block. On May 26, 2014 Ms Munro established Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy when she pitched a single tent. The protest power of one person inspired others and her stance galvanised a tent city protest at The Block and thousands of supporters. Ms Munro took on the Aboriginal Housing Company which over the years evicted the residents and subsequently entered into a partnership with a commercial developer for the site. The Block’s affordable Aboriginal housing was created in the 1970s by financial grants from Prime Minister Gough Whitlam for a representative group to buy the houses and then rent them to low income Aboriginal tenants. Ms Munro was one of the founding members of then Aboriginal Housing Association.
In a standoff lasting more than 400 days with the now privatised Aboriginal Housing Company which allegedly subsumed the Aboriginal Housing Association, Ms Munro demanded the return to affordable housing. A step in the right direction was secured by Ms Munro when the Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs visited Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy and soon after allotted $5 million to reinstate affordable housing.
Ms Munro said, “The fight is not over, it continues.”
The recipient of the Anthony Mundine Courage Award is Adnyamathanha and Narungga gentleman, Adam Goodes. Mr Goodes both stilled and polarised the nation when he challenged racism before tens of thousands of Australians on the sporting field and before millions of Australians via television screens. Mr Goodes stance opened up the long overdue discussion on racism. Mr Goodes stance on racism has been relentless and is coupled with his advocacy on the centrality of culture and history to identity. He is also dedicated to working with youth and in particular through his Go-Foundation.
Mr Goodes was overseas during the presentation of the Awards. Mr Mundine spoke of his own torment at racist abuse flung at him in his rugby league playing days.
Mr Moselmane said, “There is no more significant and important struggle in this nation’s more recent history than the Aboriginal rights struggle. It defines who we are because it is the struggle of right verse wrong, the overcoming of adversity and injustice and in turn not only speaks to the nation but defines the nation – and who we all are and should be.”
NITV Coverage of the 2nd NIHRA here:
