Vikki Campion: Zali Steggall’s Australia Day minute silence is an empty gesture

Zali Steggall’s call for a minute’s silence on Australia Day will have no impact on the real issues being faced by Indigenous Australians, Vikki Campion writes.

You’d describe him, if you saw him, as a young boy riding his bike at night. But he is breaching his bail conditions because he doesn’t want to go home.

If he goes home, he is assaulted. If he goes back to juvie, he is assaulted.

As he grows, he will learn that Indigenous kids like him are 22 times more likely to be in detention than non-Indigenous kids.

His mother, and all Indigenous women aged 15 and over, are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised for family violence than non-Indigenous women.

He is twice as likely to suicide as his non-Indigenous peers.

Thank God we have Zali. After a minute of silence on Australia Day, I am sure he will feel better about it all.

Ask that boy on the bike; what do you want? Do you need people to help? Or to hold their tongue between sips of Moet on Australia Day?

Zali Steggall has called for a minute’s silence on Australia Day: Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Instead of doing the bare minimum, liking a post on social media or keeping your mouth shut for 60 seconds, get off the couch.

Change is made by those who show up.

Look at those who heal. The tall, taciturn farm worker turned BackTrack CEO and founder Bernie Shakeshaft.

He learned to track as a jackaroo with elders in the Northern Territory, and learned the dogs were always one step ahead.

Bernie, his skilled staff, and his army of volunteers are revered for the work they do in helping the kids who were given up on to get their lives together.

Without Backtrack, they say they would be in lockup or dead.

BackTrack, a community-based not-for-profit, gives kids a life they would not have known if it wasn’t for Bernie, his volunteers and staff who get them before they go into the juvenile justice system or interrupt their return to it.

Bernie Shakeshaft is changing lives with BackTrack. Picture: Clayton Rose

Three-quarters of the kids who have been in jail go back to jail.

The BackTrack kids have a 97 per cent success rate when it comes to education, training and employment.

That’s all because of people getting off the couch. They are cooking with the kids, shopping with them, going out to the bush, training dogs, teaching kids to weld, fence, farm. Giving kids a roof over their head. It’s dressing youth for court, teaching 13-year-old mothers how to cook, ensuring their babies are fed and warm.

You won’t hear breathy platitudes and pity from these volunteers. They are defined by their actions. They feed, teach, support, drive, lift and organise. They give time, skills, food and money. And that’s how they are changing young lives.

Real community leaders step up and help.

Bernie got given the keys to an old shed and turned it into a bustling and expanding community organisation changing the lives of vulnerable kids.

None of us were on the beach that day in 1788. Our generation, the 49 per cent of Australians born overseas or with a parent born overseas, are not responsible for the past – but we are responsible for the future.

Bernie Shakeshaft being awarded the Local Hero winner at the 2020 Australian of the Year. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Look at the actions of those who are healing, who are addressing indigenous over-representation in the justice system.

They show up and help.

Zali wants to be the chief healer, but one minute of silence on Australia Day is akin to turning up to a car crash with a packet of Band-Aids. You are just getting in the way of the paramedics.

When there was legalisation proposed that could have given more Indigenous people a voice in Australia’s parliament last year, only one independent supported it, and that wasn’t the Member for Warringah but Kennedy MP Bob Katter.

Parliamentarians that are passionate about Indigenous injustice can do more than a minute’s silence – they could have backed the Bill for regional senators.

Zali’s bid for a minute’s silence on Australia Day is unadulterated tokenism equal to a Save the Whales bumper sticker.

It’s nothing more than virtue signalling.

What are we saying to the boy on the bike breaching his bail because it’s better than being at home?

You get one minute.

There are 2000 volunteers needed nationwide to help charitable organisations. Zali can start there.

Australia may not be the Lucky Country, but it is a generous one.

And we can do better.