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Mabo: An Address to the Nation (1993)

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‘An issue the country could not ignore’

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Clip description

Prime Minister Paul Keating acknowledges past injustices perpetrated on Indigenous Australians and affirms the High Court of Australia’s Mabo decision to recognise native title.

Curator’s notes

Prime Minister Paul Keating begins his televised address with a strong endorsement of the Mabo decision. He sets up the context for his government’s plans by outlining the deep connection of Australia’s first inhabitants to their land and highlighting the ‘lie’ that Australia ‘belonged to no-one’ when European settlement began. His message is that wrongs of the past must be righted.