Indigenous Australians, Union Movement

The Hon. M. EL DANNAWI (14:39): My question is for the Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector. Will the minister inform the council about the relationship between the trade union movement and Aboriginal Australians?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:39): I thank the honourable member for her question and acknowledge the honourable member's long association with the trade union movement in Australia, particularly the United Workers Union.

I was recently delighted to receive an invitation from the Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary, Sally McManus, and the ACTU Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee to speak at the upcoming ACTU Congress in June. The ACTU Congress is the highest decision-making body in the Australian trade union movement and will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre between 4 and 6 June. This is notable, as it's the first time the event has been held in person since pre-COVID—since 2018. It represents an opportunity for workers from every industry and unions to come together to set the movement's agenda for the next three years and determine policies and strategies for improving the lives of working people and making Australia fairer.

Having been invited to address the ACTU Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee, it is notable that throughout Australia's history there has been a remarkable solidarity between the trade union movement and Aboriginal Australians in overcoming both discrimination and disadvantage. One of the most well-known cases of this solidarity was the Wave Hill walk-off in 1966, which saw approximately 200 Gurindji stock men and women, domestic workers and their families walk off the Wave Hill pastoral station in protest at poor working and living conditions, which included Aboriginal workers receiving only approximately a third of what their non-Aboriginal workers were receiving.

With the support of the trade union movement the Gurindji people were provided material and logistical support, transportation of supplies, raising funds for striking members and broader advocacy from union leaders across the nation. These actions, seeking fair wages—parity—and conditions, led to a decade-long struggle for land rights. From little things, big things grew in this endeavour, and the support and advocacy ultimately culminated in the historic handover of traditional lands to the Gurindji people by Gough Whitlam in 1975.

I also want to acknowledge the strong support the trade union movement has provided over the last couple of years, particularly in the lead-up to the referendum in Australia, in support of and in solidarity with Aboriginal people and, certainly in this state, the help and advice in relation to our First Nations Voice to our state parliament. I particularly want to acknowledge the First Nations workers from the Australian Services Union, who I have met with before, and also the First Nations workers from the United Workers Union in the gallery, who I had the pleasure of meeting here today, and who I know are supported by people like the Hon. Ms Mira El Dannawi in their endeavours.

I want to reiterate, and I have said in here a number of times before: I am a proud trade unionist. I am grateful for the decades of support that the trade union movement have stood in solidarity with and campaigned in support of Aboriginal people in this country.