26 May, 2026
During National Reconciliation Week, the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council is calling on governments across Australia to stop treating reconciliation as a symbolic exercise while continuing to weaken Aboriginal rights in practice. This year’s National Reconciliation Week theme, All In, demands more than slogans, branding and public events. If governments are truly “all in” on reconciliation, they must be prepared to support structural reform, protect Aboriginal rights and share decision-making power with Aboriginal peoples.
Nine years after the Uluru Statement from the Heart was gifted to the Australian people, Aboriginal communities are still fighting for the protections, representation and reforms that were at the heart of that invitation.
As Australia marks the anniversary of the 1967 Australian referendum, governments must also confront the unfinished promise of that historic vote. The referendum enabled the Commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people and ensured Aboriginal people would be counted in the national census, but it also carried an expectation that governments would finally address the systemic exclusion and inequality faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Nearly sixty years later, Aboriginal communities remain disproportionately impacted by incarceration, child removals, housing insecurity, poverty and systemic racism, while governments continue to resist the structural reforms necessary to deliver justice and self-determination.
“We cannot keep talking about reconciliation while governments continue to erode Aboriginal rights, weaken land rights frameworks and refuse to establish permanent national representation for our people,” Chairperson Raymond Kelly said.
The NSW Aboriginal Land Council acknowledged the continued leadership of Professor Megan Davis AC and Pat Anderson AO, who have continued the work of the Uluru Dialogues despite governments and philanthropic organisations retreating from meaningful support for structural reform following the Voice Referendum in 2023.
“For nearly twenty years governments have spoken about ‘Closing the Gap’, yet Aboriginal people remain over-incarcerated, over-represented in child protection systems and continue to face entrenched disadvantage”, Dr Kelly said. “The problem is not a lack of reports or strategies. The problem is governments refusing to address the structural causes of inequality.”
At the same time, the NSW Aboriginal Land Council warned that governments continue to undermine Aboriginal rights through legislative reform agendas.
In New South Wales, the Minns Labor Government Crown Lands Management Amendment Bill has raised major concerns across the Aboriginal Land Rights Network because of its potential impact on protections under the Aboriginal Land Rights system.
Since the introduction of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, only around 175,000 hectares of land have been returned to Aboriginal peoples out of approximately 80 million hectares across New South Wales — just 0.2 per cent of the state’s land mass.
“That statistic alone exposes the myth that Aboriginal land rights have gone too far,” Dr Kelly said.
“Governments ask why Aboriginal disadvantage persists while refusing to acknowledge that land is fundamental to economic independence, housing, cultural revitalisation and long-term community wellbeing.” Australia is also confronting a sharp rise in racism and hostility directed at Aboriginal people following the Voice referendum campaign and result.
The Australian Parliament itself is now conducting an inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at First Nations peoples through the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs.
“Governments cannot claim to be ‘all in’ on reconciliation while continuing to weaken Aboriginal rights and avoid the structural reforms needed to address injustice,” Reconciliation cannot survive on jerseys, logos and morning teas while governments continue to weaken Aboriginal rights,” Dr Kelly said. The NSW Aboriginal Land Council is calling for a permanent and nationally representative Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander body; stronger legal protections for Aboriginal rights and lands; an end to legislative attacks on Aboriginal land rights; and genuine accountability from governments on Aboriginal outcomes. “Aboriginal people are not asking for symbolism,” Dr Kelly said.
“We are asking for protections, representation and the political courage to address the structural injustice that continues to define this country.”
Media Contact
Madison West
madi@freefolkagency.com
0433 583 011
| About NSWALC NSWALC is the State’s peak representative body in Aboriginal Affairs and aims to protect the interests and further the aspirations of the 121 NSW Local Aboriginal Land Councils and the broader Aboriginal community. It was established in the 1970s to assist in the fight for land rights and was formally constituted as a statutory corporation under the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Rights Act in 1983. NSWALC is the largest member-based Aboriginal organisation in NSW. |