A biennial report shows attitudes shifting in support of key aims of the reconciliation movement

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

An overwhelming majority of Australians support a formal “truth telling” process to acknowledge past injustices against Indigenous people, the latest survey on community attitudes towards reconciliation shows.

The reconciliation barometer survey, conducted by Reconciliation Australia every two years, shows attitudes shifting in support of some of the key aims of the reconciliation movement.

Ninety-five per cent of the community support the right of First Nations people to have a say on matters affecting them. There was similar support (90%) for the statement that the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is important. That figure has increased marginally every survey since 2010.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017 called for a “process of agreement making” between governments and First Nations people, and a truth-telling process.

The reconciliation barometer survey asked respondents, for the first time, about truth-telling in order to “acknowledge the reality of Australia’s shared history”. The results showed 80% of people considered truth telling important.

‘Overwhelmed’: Hundreds attend first dawn service to be held on Australia Day Read more

Amid strong support for some of the central tenets of the reconciliation process, the report also unearthed worrying statistics about the extent of racism.

One in three Indigenous respondents to the survey said they had endured verbal racism in the past six months. Almost half (43%) of First Nations people said they had been subjected to some form of racial prejudice during the same period.

The chief executive officer of Reconciliation Australia, Karen Mundine, said more Australians than ever before felt a sense of pride for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Mundine said reconciliation groups, whose work has included promoting the need to truthfully present Australia’s history, were having a positive impact.

“In welcoming these latest results, I must acknowledge the hard work undertaken by so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to share the incredible beauty and complexity of our cultures across this continent,” she said.

Mundine said the next steps towards reconciliation include advancing issues raised in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and supporting the national representative body for Indigenous people, the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples.