Invaders
This week I join the invaders of Australia as a naturalised citizen – just in time for National Reconciliation Week, 27 May to 3 June, commemorating the 1967 referendum eliminating constitutional clauses discriminating against indigenous Australians. The June 3 National Sorry Day culmination marks the anniversary of the High Court’s controversial Mabo decision, recognizing Native Title rights and overturning the myth of “Terra Nullis.”

It’s a pretty common practice here to begin events held on public lands with a statement to the effect of “I recognize the traditional caretakers of the land we stand upon today, the (tribe name) people.” This isn’t something I’ve encountered elsewhere, but I rather like it. It isn’t always necessary or the practice to specify which native people were the original inhabitants, due largely to the fact that there were so very many tribes all that time ago, and it can be difficult to be sure which held what region. Nevertheless, it’s a fine practice, and I wonder whether it will be indulged at my swearing-in.

Reconciliation was something that seemed inevitable, prior to 1996 and the elevation of John Howard as Prime Minister. This is a man for whom “sorry” is a seemingly a dirty word. While I understand the legal principles upon which he may base his refusal to offer an apology, they don’t appear to be the principles he actually uses in support, weasling around over issues of who did what to whom when. The PM prefers forgetting the past, a practice he and his frontbenchers employ whenever it suits them.

Citizenship will provide me a few rights I’m looking forward to, as well as responsibilities, all of which I take seriously. As an Australian citizen-to-be, I believe in Reconciliation, the inevitability of a Republic, and a future where government serves all its people equally. This is gonna be fun.