Today I spoke in favour of a petition that has been received by the Legislative Assembly requesting thatthe Aboriginal flag be flown alongside the Australian and the NSW flags on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I was also pleased to meet with some of the petitioners on the steps of Parliament House after the debate.

I want to thank the 126,000+ people who have signed the petition andCheree Toka who has organised the petition.

This is what I said:



I am proud to be speaking in favour of and advocating for this petition today. As others have done, I pay my respects to the traditional owners of the land we are on, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and Elders past, present and emerging.

I am proud to join with over 126,000other Australians who have signed this petition. I welcome those who are present in the gallery today and those who are outside Parliament House. They remind us that this is not a petition that has come from within one small corner of this place, but that there is a movement of public sentiment carrying this petition here this afternoon.

This is also a reminder to us that people are watching us here in this place this afternoon. They are watching us to see whether the rhetoric of reconciliation will be worked out into the reality of reconciliation;- the reality of reconciliation that is a continuing journey for us as local communities, as a State and as a country. This journey that continues for 365 days of the year, and is not just brought out as some kind of a trophy on special occasionsbecause that is what we are really talking about.

There has been some controversy about the passage of this petition to this place. As the Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Learning, I am proud that alongside this petition from adult signatories, there is a movement of children and young people who are watching today and who are invested in this debate.

The nature of campaigning and engagement has changed around us. Certain lone voices may not like itand I have certainly heard from some of those:but that change is no longer within their control.

Around the world, it is children and young people who are leading the way in campaigning for a better future.

Thanks to Quality Area 5 of the National Quality Standard in early childhood learning, the importance of respect and mutual learning are now embedded in every early childhood service.

Services are assessed and rated on the basis of their ability to develop children's skills in building and maintaining sensitive and responsive relationships, and in collaborating, learning from and helping each other. We have embedded educational quality standards to help young children to respect each other and to learn from each other across our early childhood learning services, so it was no surprise to me that young children and young people have got on board with this issue, young children and young people who want to build a better future.

I hear people say that this is just a flag, and that flags do not change things. Perhaps there is some truth in that, but a flag is never just a piece of material; it is a symbol - a powerful symbol - that represents a past and current reality, and many future hopes and dreams.

I hear people say that this is a flag of protest and that it has no place on the symbolic gateway to our State capital city. We on this side of the House say, yes, it is a flag of protest, a flag of struggle for justice, a flag for a struggle that is not yet finished.

I hear people say that there are technical difficulties with fixing a third flag on top of the bridge, about the positioning of a third flag pole, and of the relationship between this flag and the two that are already flown. We on this side of the House say, if we expect threeto five year-olds to listen to others who are different from themselves, and to learn from each other, then we need to show them how to do it in this place.

There are no technical difficulties to be overcome, there is just an ideological difficulty that needs to be challenged.

I thank Cheree Toka for organising this petition, for helping us to hear the voices of those with Aboriginal heritage and the voices of those with other heritage who together call for the Aboriginal flag to be flown at the symbolic gateway to our State capital city.

I have great pleasure in supporting this petition today.