ANTaR will launch a Reconciliation Progress Report on Friday, assessing progress in the ten years since the December 2000 Final Report of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (‘the Council’).

The report, Are We There Yet?, will be officially launched by Indigenous statesman Patrick Dodson and calls on governments to advance their commitment to ‘resetting’ the relationship with Indigenous Australians by developing a clear reconciliation agenda.

“The bipartisan commitment to constitutional reform offers a unique opportunity to kick-start the reconciliation momentum. Let’s build on that momentum and develop a broader strategy to address the unfinished business of reconciliation,” says Dr Janet Hunt, ANTaR President.

ANTaR’s report makes a number of recommendations aimed at resetting relationships, respecting rights and resourcing reconciliation activities and groups. These include a proposed process for negotiated agreement-making, a broad and consultative constitutional reform process and a plan to close the Indigenous health gap.

“Hopes were high in 2000 that although the Council had been dismantled, their Final Report laid a comprehensive and achievable blueprint for future reconciliation. The failure to achieve this blueprint has been a source of disappointment for many Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians,” said Dr Hunt.

The Are we there yet? report notes a number of reconciliation high-points in the last decade – most notably the National Apology and bipartisan political support for the Close the Gap campaign to improve indigenous life expectancy. However, it also highlights the lack of progress on human rights issues and the failure to build respectful partnerships with Indigenous Australians.

“While progress has been made on addressing Indigenous disadvantage, particularly through additional funding for Indigenous health, issues of rights and relationships loom large as priority issues for the next decade.”

“ANTaR looks forward to working with Indigenous organisations and communities, governments and the broader community to seize the current momentum and create a reconciled future based on recognition, rights and respect,” said Dr Hunt.

The report will be available for download on Friday at www.antar.org.au.

Launch details

Are We There Yet? will be launched during the plenary session, ‘Whatever happened to reconciliation?’ at the Inaugural National Indigenous Policy and Dialogue Conference on Friday, November 19 in Leighton Hall, The John Niland Scientia Building, University of New South Wales.

The session starts at 11am and the launch is expected to take place at 12:20pm.

Interviews with ANTaR President Dr Janet Hunt are available. Contact Gareth Wills of Hootville Communications on 03 9017 5411, 0419 394 826 or gareth@hootville.com

ANTaR is the pre-eminent non-Indigenous national advocacy organisation dedicated specifically to the rights - and overcoming the disadvantage - of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.