Dr. Chris Sarra | The rights of Indigenous people

Summary

Dr. Chris Sarra's address focuses on transforming relationships between governments and Indigenous communities, calling for a shift from merely surviving to thriving. He emphasizes the importance of high expectations, authentic relationships, and cultural identity in fostering empowerment and success within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Sarra calls for collaborative approaches in policy-making, urging that communities be co-creators of solutions rather than passive recipients of aid or control. His experience and passion underscore a vision of equity and mutual respect in partnerships with Indigenous peoples.

Highlights

• Chris Sarra highlighted the importance of acknowledging traditional custodians of the land. 🌏
• He shared his journey as the first Aboriginal principal of Shurberg State School. 🎓
• Sarra emphasized the success of building honorable relationships rather than enforcing compliance. ❤️
• He believes in high expectations for Aboriginal children, fostering pride and identity. 👶
• The speech called for a policy shift from surviving to thriving for Indigenous communities. 🌳
• Sarra advocates for government's role to evolve from doing things for/to Indigenous peoples to doing things with them. 🔄
• He stressed the importance of cultural agility and competence in creating effective partnerships. 🌐
• The talk concluded with an invitation to cultivate sophisticated, transformative relationships. 🤲

Key Takeaways

• Transform relationships with Indigenous communities by working with, not for or to, them. 🤝
• Move from a policy of compliance to allowing Indigenous communities to thrive. 🌱
• Empower Indigenous children with high expectations and belief in their identity. 🌟
• Resilience and cultural competence are key to developing sophisticated partnerships. 💪
• Collaborative approaches in policy-making can lead to more equitable and inspirational relationships. 🌍

Overview

Dr. Chris Sarra's inspiring talk at the CEDA event focused on the transformative power of authentic relationships between government bodies and Indigenous communities. He shared his journey from being the first Aboriginal principal at Shurberg State School to establishing the Stronger Smarter Institute. His core message was that true success stems from empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with high expectations and belief in their potential.

Sarra discussed the need for a paradigm shift in government policies to genuinely engage with Indigenous communities. He highlighted the evolution from survival-based approaches to enabling these communities to thrive, emphasizing cultural identity and mutual respect. Sarra passionately urged a move away from top-down methodologies, advocating for partnerships where solutions are co-designed with the community.

The essence of Sarra's message is a call to action: to cultivate relationships where Indigenous people are seen as equal partners in policy-making. He warned against treating them as subjects of aid, stressing that resilience and cultural competence are essential for sophisticated collaborations. Dr. Sarra's vision is one of a future where Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians live with honor, sharing and growing together.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Acknowledgments In this chapter, the speaker begins by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land, showing respect to Indigenous people and their heritage. There is a mention of Uncle Bill Buchanan, suggesting his presence at the event. The speaker expresses delight in being part of the forum, emphasizing the importance of the topics being discussed. The chapter serves as an introduction and sets the tone for respectful dialogue throughout the event.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Early Career and Challenges The chapter titled 'Early Career and Challenges' focuses on the speaker's past experiences as the first Aboriginal principal of Shurberg State School, an Aboriginal community school. The narrative emphasizes the skepticism surrounding change and transformation in the school during that time. Despite these challenges, the principal aimed to prove that transformation was indeed possible, highlighting both the adversity faced and the determination to drive change in the education system.
• 01:30 - 02:30: Belief and Achievements in Aboriginal Education The speaker reflects on the choice between accepting the belief that change is impossible and working to challenge and dismantle that belief. They draw on their experiences as a young Aboriginal person growing up in Bundaberg in the 1970s, during a time governed by Jobi alga Peterson. During this era, they were constantly exposed to negative stereotypes about Aboriginal identity, which greatly shaped their perspective and resolve.
• 02:30 - 04:00: Transition to Government Role The chapter 'Transition to Government Role' discusses the background of the narrator, highlighting the influence of a strong mother and a hard-working Italian father. The narrator credits these influences for building a true sense of identity and resilience as an Aboriginal person, enabling him to become the first Aboriginal principal in Shurberg. Emphasizing self-belief and authenticity, the narrator is determined to challenge and change the stereotypical notions about Aboriginal people.
• 04:00 - 06:00: Policy Context and Relationships with Indigenous Communities The chapter titled 'Policy Context and Relationships with Indigenous Communities' discusses the journey towards empowering Aboriginal children and their communities by instilling the belief that they have the right to be strong and intelligent. It emphasizes the importance of setting high expectations and building strong relationships. The narrator reflects on the success achieved at Shoberg School where attendance increased from 62% to 94%, showcasing significant improvement.
• 06:00 - 09:30: Transformative Relationships and Cultural Competence The chapter "Transformative Relationships and Cultural Competence" emphasizes the importance of building honorable relationships between communities, children, schools, and teachers. It highlights that success was achieved without making drastic changes, such as cutting welfare payments. Instead, success came from fostering strong, respectful connections. The narrator explains that the foundational principles of the Shoberg School inspired the establishment of the Stronger Smarter Institute. This initiative aimed at raising the expectations and educational outcomes for Aboriginal children, reflecting an ambitious career goal to drive positive change.
• 09:30 - 11:30: Conclusion and Call to Action The conclusion chapter emphasizes the belief that Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal children can achieve as well as any other children, maintaining a strong cultural identity. It rejects the notion that improvement takes an undetermined amount of time, calling for immediate actions within the profession to support these children effectively.

Dr. Chris Sarra | The rights of Indigenous people Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] thank you let me start as I should by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land did I hear uncle bill Buchanan is in the room anyway where is he I'll catch him later on anyway that's my Bungie delighted to be here in this forum and delighted to be in a space where we're all talking about such things I come to this platform with
• 00:30 - 01:00 a level of success I suppose some of you will know that in a not in a previous life but a long time ago I used to be a school principal of shurberg state school which is an Aboriginal community school and it was a place at a time when nobody said that change and transformation was possible well we shall prove that wrong you know I went there as the school's first Aboriginal principal and was confronted by a choice
• 01:00 - 01:30 you know I could collude with that belief that it was impossible to make change and that it would take time or we could set about smashing it to bits and you know base given my experiences as a young Aboriginal person growing up in Bundaberg in the 1970s under the Jobi alga Peterson government bombarded with kind of negative sort of stereotypical sort of sense of who we were supposed to be as Aboriginal people I had a very
• 01:30 - 02:00 strong mum who convinced us that that wasn't actually the truth about who we were as Aboriginal people I had a hard-working Italian father who showed us the value of working hard and so with that nice background we were able to transcend any stifled kind of expectation so into shurberg as their first Aboriginal principal armed with a sense of belief in myself and an authentic sense of who I was as an Aboriginal man and determined to smash to bits this notion that somehow our
• 02:00 - 02:30 place was on the bottom and I convinced Aboriginal children and an Aboriginal community that we had a right to be strong and we had a right to be smart and so that really was the formula for my success and it was by on the notion of high expectations relationships emphasis on the word relationships I sorry we did have some good success at shoberg school as I talked about you know attendance went from 62 to 94% 94 percent is pretty good
• 02:30 - 03:00 in any school we didn't cut anybody's welfare payments to make that happen we just built honorable relationships between communities and childrens and schools and and teachers and so I've I've never really felt the need to change the essence of what made us successful you know from shoberg school we set up the stronger smarter Institute and what seemed like a lofty career ambition at the time to change expectations of Aboriginal children and
• 03:00 - 03:30 Torres Strait Islander children right across Australia again it was one of those things where people said it's going to take time and that there are some things that we have to accept but I refused again to accept that and we said about changing a profession and got an entire profession to believe that Aboriginal children and Torres Strait Islander children could achieve as well as anybody else and that they could retain a strong sense of their positive positive cultural identity and so I
• 03:30 - 04:00 don't see any need to come to my new role as director general assuming there is some other key to success the key to success has always been an authentic belief and who we are as Aboriginal people and our belief that we can make a difference and we can transcend the challenges that were that were that are confronting us and I will never depart from the belief that it comes down to high expectations relationships so I want to just reflect on that in terms of framing up the conversation for for all
• 04:00 - 04:30 of us today and invite you later on to ask some questions I've explained this to my colleagues in government many times and that is that I've never felt the need to when I come to the role as director general I've never felt the need to let go of my sense of being Aboriginal and to become something else in order to be successful in that role in fact I think that if I was let go of my sense of being Aboriginal to try to achieve success in that role
• 04:30 - 05:00 then I'd probably deliver failure or at best limited progress in the way that others have done before me so I'm very keen to transform relationships that exist between government and and Aboriginal communities and with Torres Strait Islander communities so I reflect you know I'm not an old man but I'm not young either I did go to shoberg school with all black hair and I left there
• 05:00 - 05:30 with grey hair but I I reflect a lot on the the policy context and the nature of the relationships you know that I keep talking about accepting that in a relationship there are two sides you know and in a relationship that's authentic there are accountabilities that exist and so that's what I'd like us to reflect on in terms of our lunch here today in a policy context when I go ages back you know we it seems like we came
• 05:30 - 06:00 from a place of moving from surviving to dying assuming that blood that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were just going to die and so that was the policy mindset at the time and that's why we just rounded up the half-caste kids and chucked him in missions so that we could teach them to be white because that was the only way that they were going to survive into the future you know and when you think of that kind of a relationship it's kind of like what the political and corporate masters up here and Aboriginal Torres
• 06:00 - 06:30 Strait Islander people down here and if we have a policy mindset or a way of existing in that relationship where we think well they're just going to go from surviving to dying then we end up feeling like we have to do things for black fillers and then as an Aboriginal man when I reflect on the essence of that kind of a relationship it doesn't particularly inspire me to want to be a part of that relationship and so I the time we didn't die out in fact we got stronger and we insisted on on keeping
• 06:30 - 07:00 our connection and so when it seems like when the policymakers or government or the mind sets in and around realize we weren't going to die and move from a policy context of from surviving to complying like as if the way that we were going to move forward is to just get us to comply with who the government said or the political and corporate masters said we should be and get us to comply and you think about that relationship and it's kind of got the
• 07:00 - 07:30 political and corporate masters up here and it's got us as black fellas down here telling us that we should comply and when when I reflect on that relationship it's a kind of relationship where government is designed to do things to black fellas and when I reflect on the essence of that relationship as an Aboriginal man I'm not particularly inspired to be in that kind of a relationship and it kind of explains why why it hasn't been successful so it's not about doing
• 07:30 - 08:00 things for us it's not about doing things to us so it must be it must be about something else right so we've got to get out of this from surviving to dying we've moved into this from surviving to complying and we've got a way to go in terms of shaking that off and if we want to truly get to a transformative circumstance that enables us to transcend relationships we've got to understand that the policy context and the relationship context has to be about enabling us to move from surviving
• 08:00 - 08:30 to thriving where we retain our sense of authentic belief and our sense of cultural identity because we offer that to the country as a gift and in that kind of a relationship which is more honorable the political and corporate masters sit here an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people sit here and in that kind of a relationship it's designed where we as government and political and corporate masters we do things with communities not for them and
• 08:30 - 09:00 not to them and when I reflect on the nature of that type of relationship as an Aboriginal man and I see government trying to behave and act in a way where its perceives us as having agency in a sense of power and accept that they might not have all the answers and that some of the answers actually might exist in community and if it's a relationship in which we co.design what the solutions might be accepting that we might make some mistakes if it's that kind of a
• 09:00 - 09:30 relationship then when I compare it to what's existed in the past I may well be inspired to be in fact I am inspired to be a part of that kind of a relationship so it's not about doing things for Aboriginal communities and Torres Strait Islander communities it's not relationships in which we do things to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities it has to be in relationships in which we do things with us
• 09:30 - 10:00 so from a government perspective that's and when I reflect on the things that have enabled me to be successful in this kind of a space and I reflect on where I've come from as an Aboriginal child growing up having to deal with the frustrations of racism yet never ever becoming victim to those circumstances and we write when I reflect on you know the things that my old mum used to use to campaign about and the people upon
• 10:00 - 10:30 whose shoulders I stand in in this very role the things that they've campaigned for are about much of what we'll talk about today you know a relationship and in which we do things with us not to us where we can enable a sense of voice where we can able a sense of agreement making and where we can have some truth-telling so this is the sort of agenda that that we've mapped out out
• 10:30 - 11:00 for us as a department and that we will take forward because it is connected to all of those things where we've come from as a people and where we want to get to as a people but not only about where we want to get to as a people where we want to get to as a nation in which in which we have an honorable existence alongside each other so I accept that in some ways change will be slow and trans transfer manic transformation cannot occur overnight
• 11:00 - 11:30 but sometimes they can you know and I'm committed to try to plant the seeds and I invite you to plant the seeds alongside me that will enable us to be in a more sophisticated relationship and in some ways things will not be transformed over overnight but as our relationships with each other become more and more sophisticated we as as indigenous Queenslanders Indigenous
• 11:30 - 12:00 Australians will be more sophisticated we're pretty sophisticated now we will we will be better placed to work in partnerships and government you know we'll start to realize that the political and corporate masters will start to realize that we it's where we become more culturally competent as we talk about we'll start to understand that you don't do a cross cultural awareness training thing for one day or two days or maybe even five days and you
• 12:00 - 12:30 tick the box and use competent we'll get our sense of cultural competence and agility the more we walk alongside the the more we work alongside each other or more figure things out and it has to be this way it's it can only be this this way because what I've you know what I would like us all to understand as well is that when we you know as black fellows we are the most resilient and agile people on the planet and so we've
• 12:30 - 13:00 tried to establish relationships in which we're down here and others are up here but we just adjust you know we just adjust in such a way so it's smash us around with a big stick and we won't comply but we'll adjust you know cut welfare payments smashes smack us around with these punitive measures and we'll just adjust I'll absorb that my family will absorb that my community will absorb that I'm lesser for it and you're
• 13:00 - 13:30 lesser for it and we are less rich as a nation in with then what we could be and so as we move to this kind of a relationship that enables us to move from surviving to thriving where we do things with people not to them that is the way forward that's a relationship that I wouldn't be inspired to be a part of and I hope that you would too thank you [Applause]