Mr GREG WARREN (Campbelltown) (12:06): My question is addressed to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty. Will the Minister advise the House of the lasting legacy of the 1965 Freedom Ride?
Mr DAVID HARRIS (Wyong—Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, Minister for Gaming and Racing, Minister for Veterans, Minister for Medical Research, and Minister for the Central Coast) (12:06): I thank the member for Campbelltown for his question about one of those events in history that can change the path of a nation. The 1965 Freedom Ride stands out as one of the amazing, brave, courageous events that galvanised the country and two years later, in the 1967 referendum, Aboriginal people were for the first time recognised and counted in the census. Thinking back to 1965, those young students, aged 18, 19 or in their 20s, spurred on by the civil rights movement happening in the United States, decided to board a bus and travel throughout regional New South Wales. Originally a fact-finding mission, it turned into a protest against the unfair discriminatory practices that were occurring in communities across New South Wales.
It was amazing to meet some of those people—who are now not so young—who took the risk to confront those terrible practices. Ann Curthoys, Aidan Foy, Chris Page, Alex Mills and Beth Hansen were part of the celebrations in Walgett on Monday that Minister Sharpe and I were able to attend, together with representatives of the member for Barwon and the mayor. The whole Walgett community joined together to pay tribute to the people who made that journey. In my speech I said, particularly to the school kids who were there, that superheroes do not always wear capes. We sometimes talk about our emergency services personnel in that sense. Those young people boarded the bus. Ironically, one of them said they had to buy a ticket to get on the bus. He did not have a job at the time and his girlfriend had to buy a ticket as well. He was a little bit embarrassed that they both had to buy a ticket.
They went out to communities and saw the discriminatory practices that were occurring, like not being able to use the local swimming pool at the same time as the rest of the community or waiting until the supermarket closed before they could do their shopping. In Walgett itself, they protested in front of the RSL club because even Aboriginal returned servicemen could not enter the club. They received a whole lot of abuse. [Extension of time]
Things were thrown at them, and they were called names. Meanwhile a convoy of cars followed them out of town and drove them off the road. They then had to return to Walgett to get their bus fixed. But they raised awareness across the whole Australian community about some of the things that were happening, and they started a change. We went out for dinner at the RSL club and noted one great thing that has since occurred: 100 per cent of the RSL staff were Aboriginal. We have come a long way from 1965 to 2025, but there is more work to do.
Building on what the previous Government started through Closing the Gap, this Government has committed to developing a working partnership with Aboriginal people through the Aboriginal Coalition of Peaks and other groups across Aboriginal communities to get better outcomes. It can be a difficult journey, and we have some difficult conversations at times as we chart that path to change government, put local Aboriginal communities first and make sure that funding gets to where it needs to be. Looking back, it all started with events like the 1965 Freedom Ride. People will remember names like Charles Perkins and Jim Spigelman, but there were a number of others on that bus, and every single one of them made a massive contribution to human rights in this country. We should remember their contribution, their bravery and their willingness to stand up against what is wrong and to do the right thing, not just on the sixtieth anniversary, but at all times.
