Good morning to you all.
I would like to recognise and pay my respects to the people of the Yolŋu nation, their elders, leaders, and families.
It is an honour to be here, and I am humbled to be so graciously welcomed by the Gumatj clan, onto their lands.
Thank you too to Garma’s organisers, the Yothu Yindi Foundation. It is a privilege to be here for the first time.
I would also like to acknowledge Xanana Gusmão, the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, who has joined us today.
Alongside Pacific leaders from the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Palau, and Tonga.
I’d like to shout out the seven Australia Awards scholars who have made the journey here today, including some who bring First Nations heritage and culture from their own countries.
And I acknowledge my Ministerial colleagues, including the exceptional and hardworking Malarndirri McCarthy, Minister for Indigenous Australians.
Minister McCarthy will speak to you about our journey of reconciliation and the Albanese Government’s efforts when it comes to closing the gap and I’ll hand over to her in a moment to speak about the work and progress she has been leading.
I wanted to start by reflecting on Garma’s theme this year.
Bukmak. Everyone.
Some of you might know that the word ‘bukmak’ is important in the context of the treaty Australia and Fiji recently signed, which I will touch on shortly.
But at this very moment, it is a powerful message to all of us about who we are, where we have come from, and where we hope to go as a nation.
Over these few days, thousands of people from across Australia, and indeed the world, will again walk on this Country.
To listen. To learn. To experience.
No matter your background, race, culture, religion or language.
Garma is an invitation to everyone to come together, to learn together.
At a time when there are those seeking to set us apart, First Nations peoples, with their generosity, remind us: our many different stories, brought together, make us stronger.
For tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have lived this.
Expressed in ceremonies and songlines, language and lore.
Encompassing the lands of our nation from the red centre to the rainforests and the coastal shores.
And reaching further, over the seas and oceans to the people of the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
Through the whale and turtle hunters who set out for Saibai and Badu, for Noumea and Vanuatu and beyond.
Through the Yolŋu and Yanyuwa, who traded with Macassan seafarers and ventured to harbours and ports beyond the horizon.
On the Prime Minister’s first bilateral visit after he was elected in 2022, he chose to go to Indonesia, where he visited Sulawesi and spoke of the ties between Makassar and the Yolŋu people.
Macassans traded trepang, metal and cloth – the trepang was then sold as a popular food and medicine in China.
This contact over hundreds of years, was documented through rock art and bark paintings.
Centuries before Europeans arrived, First Nations people connected Australia with the world.
As Australia’s Foreign Minister, I am proud that this history – once underutilised – is now part of Australia’s foreign policy.
And formally set out through the release of Australia’s first ever First Nations International Engagement Strategy.
For our government, it is about using all elements of our national power – Australia’s unique cultural and historic regional ties – to our collective benefit.
Embracing all that we are, because it is so powerful.
I am proud that the work of First Nations people – that First Nations perspectives – have helped shape how we negotiate and secure treaties, how we improve outcomes on trade, and how we engage in multilateral forums.
And, here, I’d like to acknowledge the leadership of First Nations Ambassador Justin Mohamed and thank him for his tireless work.
At a time of global contest and uncertainty, we have seen that First Nations diplomacy is a source of strategic national advantage.
It cannot be replicated or emulated and we have seen through our work that including First Nations culture and knowledge and connections in our diplomacy benefits all Australians.
Simply recognising that our peaceful, prosperous, and pluralist country is the home of the world’s oldest continuous culture holds power.
That our culture resonates in profound ways, especially across our region, where ties of kinship and faith, trade and traditions, remain strong.
Because when we draw on every one of Australia’s voices, we are a stronger country – and a more capable one in the world.
We saw the importance of those ties, and the power of First Nations diplomacy, in the Nakamal Agreement we struck with Vanuatu.
The word ‘Nakamal’ means a meeting place.
A place for traditional leaders and communities to meet, to speak, to listen, to resolve – and to build unity and respect.
The bonds between our First Nations, Melanesian, and Australian South Sea Islander communities were a foundation for that agreement.
Enabling us to acknowledge hard truths about the past.
To build on our mutual respect for heritage and culture.
And to agree to work together, in ways deeper and more concerted, in pursuit of a shared vision for the Pacific region.
Mutual respect is also at the core of our Vuvale Union and Ocean of Peace Alliance with Fiji.
From that respect we developed an aspiration to build a future that our two nations can share, as one family – one Vuvale.
We saw that demonstrated at the signing ceremony.
Where, Yolŋu elder Djapirri Mununggirritj stood alongside the Prime Ministers of Australia and Fiji.
She and Yothu Yindi Foundation CEO Denise Bowden travelled more than forty hours from Yirrkala, carrying as a gift a yidaki – a Gumatj didgeridoo.
It was a gift that left Prime Minister Rabuka and the Chiefs of Suva deeply moved.
Yolŋu Elders made another gift though – the Vuvale Union includes a forum for Australia and Fiji to build that shared future.
It is different to usual diplomatic constructs.
It will include government, traditional, faith-based and business leaders.
And, recognising the uniqueness and significance of that forum, Yolŋu Elders gifted the name for it.
A name drawn from Yolŋu Matha language.
A name shared by this year’s festival – ‘Bukmak’.
‘Bukmak’ represents the togetherness, the shared responsibility, the inclusive outlook, and the collective purpose that the treaties represent.
Because of that, ‘Bukmak’ is not only a gift to Australia and Fiji and the Vuvale Union.
It is not only a meaningful expression of partnership, collaboration, and shared values.
It is also a commitment to reflect the unity and diversity of modern Australia in our foreign policy.
As I have often said, foreign policy starts with who we are. It is how we project ourselves to the world. And what we project to the world about who we are is an element of our national power.
As I look around this festival – this is who we are.
So rich in history and culture, home to more than 300 different ancestries, we share common ground with so many of the world’s peoples.
We are not a monoculture and never have been.
That is why the Albanese Labor Government has been determined to include more of Australia’s history and voices in our foreign policy.
We know that the more of Australia we bring to the table, the stronger our hand.
It benefits Australia’s national interests and the Australian people, simultaneously.
It promotes equitable trade and investment, showcasing First Nations enterprise and innovation.
It deepens our relationships across the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
And it draws on another historical fact that, as well as being Australia’s first diplomats, First Nations people are also our first traders.
Whether exchanging trepang or ochre, songs or stories or rituals.
First Nations peoples established trading routes that are still inscribed across the continent, and which extend into the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
These ancient practices, albeit thousands of years old, represent Australia’s way forward in our region.
We are working to grow trade and investment and economic growth across the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
Helping to realise our aspirations for peace and prosperity across the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
It’s why we have been proud to inaugurate a new era in our partnership with Timor-Leste.
The Parseria Foun Ba Era Foun is founded on mutual respect and a shared vision for the future.
Backing Timor-Leste’s successful bid to join Southeast Asian nations as a member of ASEAN.
Amplifying Timor-Leste’s voice in regional and global decision making.
And partnering with Timor-Leste in support of its autonomy and economic development.
It’s a tangible expression of our aspirations for the future of our partnership and of our aspirations for the region.
Our First Nations peoples have showed the power of mutual respect and connections, and how the past can chart our pathway forward.
We can learn from this because, indeed, it is the way we can best achieve our aspirations for the Indo-Pacific region we call home.
A region that is peaceful, stable, prosperous and secure.
Embracing the peoples of the Pacific – of Australia – and Southeast Asia.
In the abiding circle established by our First Nations diplomats and traders.
Thank you.