Published: 8 Nov 2019

I think the evidence is in on several very important points: Aboriginal Australians were not just hunter gatherers. As Bruce Pascoe has shown they have been custodians and managers of the land for thousands of years. My own experience in regional and western Queensland, both growing up in a small western town, and working as a GP for forty years, shows me that Aboriginal conservation of land and culture is very essential to the well-being of Aboriginal people, Australian country, and Australia as a people moving forward together. The single biggest factor in determining outcomes for Aboriginal children is self-respect and self-knowledge. This grows from the family and extended family showing a lived life with meaning and spirituality backing it up. Naturally health, education and disability are contributing factors but without meaning, we are all lost wanderers. So I come to the point of saying, that at 70 years of age I feel a groundswell of rejuvenation and rehabilitation of Aboriginal culture and respect for it is occurring in Australia. Your government has made a major contribution with this latest joint venture and I warmly and sincerely congratulate you on it. May your efforts be fruitful and rewarding to you, to Australia and to the local Aboriginal people and their Rangers.