Aboriginal leaders with guts like Adam Goodes are told to shut up because the stories they tell make people uncomfortable, Senator Nova Peris says.
Speaking on a political panel at the Garma Festival in north-east Arnhem Land on Sunday, the senator said Australia would not move forward on reconciliation and constitutional recognition until past wounds are healed.
"When you want change it takes tremendous guts and leaders, ie. Adam Goodes," she said.
"He said 'enough is enough... and when he spoke out the world said 'get back in your box, mate, you cannot stand up and use this because you're Australian of the Year'."
Senator Peris said Goodes is a proud black man, and when people know his family's history it makes them uncomfortable.
She said the wounds of the past such as the stolen generation and the intervention were still raw.
"You can only move forward when you acknowledge the truth, and right now this country has a problem with Aboriginal people," she said.
"Every time we come out and tell our story, it's like 'shut the book, we don't want to deal with it'."
She said her mother and grandparents were taken from their families, and her grandfather "had chains around his goddamned neck", but Aboriginal people still have to justify themselves to the rest of the country when talking about Australia's past.
"This government needs leadership when you get people like the Andrew Bolts of the world who say the stolen generation is a myth; that's bull***t, it happened and it's real," Senator Peris said.
"We have to learn what happens in this country," she said.
