Addressing the attendees of the Garma festival in north-east Arnhem Land, Richard Flanagan lambasted the Turnbull government for rejecting the proposal for a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous advisory body in parliament.
The idea was outlined in the May 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart, along with calls for a truth and justice commission (Makarata Commission) that supports a truth-telling process; and treaty negotiations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Author Richard Flanagan poses for a portrait during the Garma Festival near Nhulunbuy, East Arnhem Land. Source: AAP
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull rejected the proposals last year, saying the Indigenous body "would inevitably become seen as a third chamber of parliament”.
Mr Flanagan said Mr Turnbull missed a huge opportunity with his rejection of the Uluru Statement, an example of unity among the 300 delegates who attended a three-day national convention at Uluru in May.
"It was a great achievement of our democracy," Mr Flanagan said of the Uluru Statement.
"[That] those who from the beginning of our nation would now - for the first time of which I am aware - accept the sovereignty of the Commonwealth in return for recognition of their sovereignty within that Commonwealth.
"The Uluru Statement was a historic moment for our nation, by refusing it the Turnbull government chose to write itself out of history.
"Perhaps they knew themselves it was a stake beyond their dessicated souls."
Mr Flanagan said Australia will only make itself stronger if it says yes to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and will only grow richer if its people know its own truth.
“Most Australians would be horrified to learn the full extent of the massacres, of the fireside killings, of the wars of extermination, of the rapes, of the destruction and desecration of sacred sites, of the children taken, of the countless lives allowed to continue life without living,” he said.
"My warning is this: if we here in Australia do not re-imagine ourselves we will be undone."
