Reconciliation Australia

Reconciliation Australia is the non-government, not-for-profit foundation established in January 2001 to provide a continuing national focus for reconciliation. It was established by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. The Council had been wound up as there was no political commitment to reconciliation from the government of John Howard.

In 1991, the Commonwealth Parliament voted unanimously to establish the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and a formal reconciliation process. Parliament had noted that there had been no formal process of reconciliation and that it was “most desirable that there be such a reconciliation” by the year 2001, marking the centenary of Federation.

It is funded from corporate and government partnerships as well as tax deductible donations from individual Australians.

It works with business, government and individual Australians to bring about change, identifying and promoting examples of reconciliation in action. They also independently monitor Australia’s progress towards reconciliation.

On February 13th 2008 at 9:00AM (AEDT) in parliament Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised and Reconciled with the Indigenous people of Australia. The motion was passed with 100% agreement from both the ALP and Liberal Parties.

Directors

• Ms Jackie Huggins AM (Co-Chair), a woman of the Bidjara/Birri-Gubba Juru peoples, is Deputy Director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland.
• Mr Mark Leibler AC (Co-Chair) is the senior partner in the Melbourne legal firm Arnold Bloch Leibler and a prominent leader of the Australian and international Jewish community.
• Mr Campbell Anderson is a company director who first worked for Boral Ltd before moving to the resources sector where he spent the remainder of his executive career. A council member of the Business Council of Australia since 1986.
• The Hon Fred Chaney AO is Deputy President of the National Native Title Tribunal. After practising law, Fred was elected a Liberal Senator for Western Australia (1974-90) and a Member of the House of Representatives (1990-93). He held various Ministerial appointments in the Fraser government, including Aboriginal Affairs. He left Parliament in 1993 and undertook research into Aboriginal Affairs policy and administration as a Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia. He was Chancellor of Murdoch University for eight years until early 2003.
• Professor Mick Dodson AM is a member of the Yawuru peoples. He is Professor and Chairperson of the Australian National University's Institute for Indigenous Australia, and Chairman of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre. He represents Indigenous people of the Pacific region on the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
• Mr Dick Estens is a business leader and involved in the Gwydir Valley Cotton Growers’ Aboriginal Employment Strategy.
• Ms Raymattja Marika-Mununggiritj is from the Rirratjingu people in the Northern Territory. She has worked predominantly in education and has collaborated with the indigenous languages strand of the Northern Territory Curriculum Frameworks. She is a council member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Dhimurru Land Management and the Nambara School Council.
• Ms Shelley Reys, an Aboriginal woman of the Djiribul people, is Managing Director of Arrilla – Aboriginal Training and Development, which promotes respect between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider community through practical services to the private, public and community sectors. Shelley was New South Wales (NSW) Coordinator of Australians for Reconciliation and a NSW Reconciliation Committee member. She is currently a board member of the Hollows Foundation and is Vice President of the YWCA of Sydney.

See also

• Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation

External links

• Home page
• About RA