Garma opens with demand for more support

Michael Yunupingu, the grandson of one of Australia’s most respected elders, Dr Galarrwuy Yunupingu, who also founded Garma with his brother in 1999, has made an impassioned opening address to this year’s festival.

Mr Yunupingu has called it a “a pivotal time in history”.

“My vision is to see a place that provides all-round support for Yolŋu, in employment, education, health and wellbeing, and cultural laws,” he said.

“Our next generation of leaders must step up now and carry on the legacy into a world that is transitioning into a new future, a new era.

“We carry a clear vision for our future and lands, one that remains with us for generations even as others move on.

“Our vision stands like a rock against time … we can’t move forward without remembering where we came from.”

The Garma Festival is Australia’s largest annual Indigenous gathering and it kicked off in Gulkula in the remote Northern Territory on Friday.

Meanwhile, and after the recent disappointing CLosing the Gap figures, the architects of the luru statement Pat Anderson and Megan Davis have said there will be no progress unless governments involve Indigenous people in their decision making.

“Our children are being locked up, our elders are dying and our people are continuing to live in a country where their rights are neglected. Their voices and calls for help are falling on deaf ears,” they said.

“We are tired of being told, yet again, that there is no progress on Closing the Gap, there is more to do, there is more data to get, there are more bureaucrats to convince, more departments to get on board, more to persuade.”