Before I officially begin my speech, may I recognise and thank the Ngunnawal people for their care and protection of the land we are on as we gather here for this ever-important day? Furthermore, I wish to pay my respects to the elders, past, present, and emerging. I hope this will be an enjoyable and reflective day.
Recently, while preparing for this speech, I was reading Black Diggers by Tom Wright. Admiring the stories and lives he was able to capture and portray. Showing the inequalities, motivations, and bravery of each of the young characters. How they enlisted to serve for Australia, just to have the opportunity to beat the barriers put against them, their service and bravery in the face of adversary and war, and how they were able to overcome so many difficulties together and apart. While reading this book, I thought of what I defined as service, and I extend that question to you. Might your image of service be that of a brave young man or woman,…show more content… That they would get proper clothing and their roles might lead people to forget their background, leading to them possibly being treated with basic dignity and respect. Treat like a person, not as someone who is below others. Unfortunately, this injustice was a big part of their, and other Aboriginal lives, with sources such as our national museum showing that Aboriginal men would make 15%–50% less than the award rate, or minimum wage. Often doing difficult, unattractive jobs that their white counterparts wouldn’t want to do. Furthermore, there were cases of Aboriginal people working as slaves, getting only food and shelter with no means of moving forward in life. How is it that we can say this is an equal country while not being, in the past or present, equal in one of our most basic aspects of
