There were some notable absentees from the first Garma festival since the defeat of the voice. Cape York Institute founder Noel Pearson was not there. Public intellectual Marcia Langton wasn’t either. The Uluru Dialogue, which usually sends about five delegates, did not attend.
However, what we saw was a determined effort to rejuvenate the Indigenous affairs landscape. Anthony Albanese’s proposal for economic development had wide appeal, including for the host clans in northeast Arnhem Land. The Gumatj people on whose country the festival is held are pioneers of enterprise. Other traditional owners have long looked to them as proof that economic independence is possible for some.
In his address at the weekend, Yothu Yindi Foundation chair Djawa Yunupingu told of his people’s pain at the referendum result last October. He also spoke of their resilience.
As he explained his people’s strengths, he turned to their business prowess. “We are traders and we know diplomacy. For centuries we traded with the Macassans,” he said. “Today, we have established a Township with 99 year leases and private ownership.
“We have opened a bauxite mine in partnership with Rio Tinto, “We are leasing our land for a rocket launch facility. We work in company with our armed forces. We harvest our own timber. We build our own houses.”
Around Australia there are few examples as successful as this. Yet. At the weekend, Mr Albanese flagged his intention to help change that.
Northern Territory police commissioner Michael Murphy also showed the power of Garma with his apology to Aboriginal Territorians for the wrongs inflicted by the force.
How do you tell a workforce providing an essential service – also, they’re heavily unionised – that there is racism problem? Very carefully, as Murphy did at Garma.
The veteran bush cop’s colleague is the formidable problem solver Leanne Liddle, a Central Arrernte woman who knows how racism works.
Murphy and Liddle say they are not seeing racist behaviour repeated across the force. They believe nobody wants to work in a racist police force. They see potential to completely transform the relationship between police and Indigenous communities.
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