Dhunning - Indigenous Impact
Do we dare to dream?
UC Chancellor, Professor Tom Calma, is energised by many things at the moment including the positive public mood towards recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution and establishing an Indigenous voice in the Australian Parliament.
He is passionate about a range of issues as he covers numerous topics including Ash Barty’s elevation to world number one in tennis, to improved education pathways, and of course, a greater political voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
We are meeting at the National Press Club ahead of Ken Wyatt’s speech promoting a referendum on Indigenous Constitutional recognition within the three-year term of the current Morrison Government.
Wyatt’s appointment as the Minister for Indigenous Australians has provided optimism that change is possible.
At 65 years of age, Professor Calma lived through what can best be described as a ‘watershed’ moment, the 1967 referendum, which amended the Constitution to include Aboriginal people in the census.
So are we on the cusp of another landmark achievement for Australia’s Indigenous peoples?
“It could be a watershed moment but a parliamentary term timeframe is very tight. A lot of work has to be done in co-designing a referendum question or two, then educating the community, this includes politicians, so majority support can be realised,” says Professor Calma.
Now in his second term as UC Chancellor, with a third term starting in January 2020, Tom has experienced first-hand the benefits of education, which he describes as a vaccine against poverty, coupled with enhanced health outcomes.
Growing up in Darwin along with his three sisters, Professor Calma says he didn’t realise how tight it was financially for his family until after his father had died; “On reflection it was tough. When my father passed away, I was going through his things with my mother and saw the cheque account as having zero balance each fortnight. We supplemented this income through fishing and hunting.”
The pathway for Tom proved to be education. He was somewhat of a pioneer as he completed a diploma in Social Work and Community Development before establishing an Indigenous Higher Education Centre in Darwin.
He has become a living example of what is possible through self-persistence and using his educational opportunities to create opportunities for others.
Since establishing the Higher Education Centre there have been numerous roles with significant responsibility: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner; Race Discrimination Commissioner; diplomat; bureaucrat; academic; Co-Chair of the Reconciliation Australia; and the list goes on.
Probably better to summarise by describing Tom Calma as one of Australia’s leading Indigenous campaigners and academics. He traverses many fields. His role in laying the foundations for the ‘Close the Gap’ campaign, to improve the health and living standards of Indigenous Australians, cannot be understated. His other roles include a Co-Chair position with the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation, which has resulted in enormous improvement in NAPLAN testing for Indigenous children and recording and reviving Indigenous languages.
His past has given a great grounding to be a leading advocate for Indigenous Australians. He says, “They know they have somebody there championing for them.”
On this day he speaks with pride about the role the University of Canberra plays within the community and the opportunities it creates.
“I am very proud when I walk around the campus. The University is responding very well to social demands.”
The focus of our conversation at this stage remains on education as Professor Calma speaks about the growing number of Indigenous people completing Year 12 and graduating from University across the nation, and they are making a difference.
Education, as he has previously stated, is a route out of poverty but also, he believes, it provides better health outcomes; “It’s not just about life expectancy, it’s about less burden on the health system”. And considerable empirical data support this claim.
Sport has always played a role in Tom’s life and our talk moves to the role UC plays in promoting sport. He says he is inspired by Indigenous tennis star Ash Barty, who last week became world number one, Australia’s first in this position since Evonne Goolagong. “Who would have thought a couple of years ago that we would have another Indigenous tennis player as the World number one,” Tom states proudly.
Barty’s success and the success of other Aboriginal sports stars has given rise to optimism that we are witnessing a major shift in Australia that transcends sport. It is a shift towards an overwhelmingly positive attitude within Australia towards recognition of Indigenous peoples in the Constitution.
It has given Professor Calma hope for the future; “There will be a day when we get an Indigenous Prime Minister and an Indigenous Governor General,” he says.
Do we dare to dream?