In Aboriginal culture, healing after a conflict begins with a process of truth-telling. The Yolngu Matha term for this is Makarrata -- a peacemaking process. In Aboriginal ways of being, recognition of wrongs of the past sparks greater understanding on both sides of the conflict. From this, we can develop a resolution, and a coming together of the parties involved in peace.
As we celebrate NAIDOC week this year, the Morrison government has a unique opportunity to make history by dealing with our troubled history. The time is ripe to address Australia’s problematic past between settler colonials and the Aboriginal peoples through the process of Makarrata.
