Filmmaker Rachel Perkins will today use a landmark speech to push for renewed action on Indigenous recognition.
The award-winning director, responsible for iconic films such as Bran Nue Dae and Radiance, will call on Australians to set aside their differences and strive to create a “more holistic national identity” ahead of the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook’s arrival at Botany Bay.
Director Rachel Perkins in Alice Springs.Credit:Meg White
Ms Perkins is presenting this year’s Boyer Lecture series, an annual event that sees a prominent Australian discuss an issue of national importance. The first lecture of 2019, to be broadcast on ABC TV on Friday afternoon, will re-examine the various attempts to recognise Indigenous Australians over the past few decades.
Ms Perkins, the daughter of the late Aboriginal-rights activist Charles Perkins, will then outline why she believes Australians should unite behind the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The document, endorsed by a gathering of 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders in May 2017, asks Australians to change the constitution to give Indigenous Australians a say in the laws and policies that affect them.
