NAIDOC week has been around for a long time, but I wonder how many of us actually understand its significance, or for that matter, what the acronym describes?

It has evolved to become the National Aboriginal and Torres Islander Day of Observance - now extended to a week.

Most of us who studied Australian history at school would have learnt about Australia since the arrival of the first fleet and onwards with little or no reference to the resident Aboriginal people who had lived here for thousands of years.

Their traditions and history were simply brushed aside without explanation or apology, and all these years later the matter is still not resolved or duly acknowledged.

NAIDOC activity first happened in 1938. Since then there have been many unsuccessful attempts to have our Aboriginal people appropriately recognised and formally acknowledged.

The theme for the week this year is Voice, Treaty and Truth.

Hopefully, before things like a referendum happen we will be much better informed about what lies behind this statement.

Voice - Everyone has a right to be heard- whether it is in the family circle, among friends and acquaintances, locally and nationally.

Of course, with the right comes the responsibility to be adequately informed and not making derogatory remarks based on fiction, or worse still, on anger.

Aboriginal people of all the tribes within Australia need a formal Treaty recognised within the Australian Constitution that honours their long existence in this country and respects their history both before and since the British arrivals with the convicts.

The third part of the theme is Truth.

Without this, it will all be simply a mockery of justice and integrity and be set to fail again.

Over the years, some efforts have been made to acknowledge the mistakes of the past, but so many of us take it all with a grain of salt.

People are still suffering from the repercussions from the Stolen Generations, fractured families and relationships, denial of citizenship rights, and so much more carried out in the name of "right" governance.

With our new Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Ken Wyatt, now in office and holding responsibility to promote this matter further, as well as ladies like Linda Burney with a voice in Parliament, our hopes can be bolstered that after all these years justice may be able to happen and be seen to happen.

Some words of Mr Wyatt quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald are potent:

"That's what truth does. It sets you free. Only when you tell the truth and are willing to listen to the truth, can we find common ground, begin to trust each other and walk on side by side."

If some miracle happens, we might even find a new topic in the education syllabus exploring Australia in its true origins spreading truth and voice prior to a referendum about the issues!

Special greetings to the people of the Wiradjuri, Gamilaraay and Wailwan people, the original custodians of this land on which we live, and move and have our being.

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