Guest speaker Norman Laing called on those attending a reconciliation service at the Baha’i House of Worship in Sydney on 3 June 2007 to maintain the grassroots momentum for reconciliation.
“Aboriginal people remain the most socio-economically disadvantaged demographic, and are still a people in 2007 playing an horrific game of catch-up,” Mr Laing told participants at a reception before the service.
Most Aboriginal people had not benefited from Australia’s increased prosperity in recent years, he said.
“Increased prosperity of the middle-class … creates a greater focus on our own economic position, rather than creating a spirit of generosity.”
Social justice
Held at the close of National Reconciliation Week, the service drew on the social justice teachings found in the scriptures of the world religions. Those attending included invited guests, members of the public and Baha’is.
Mr Laing called for a sharing of improvements in living standards, health and education.
“It’s the hearts of people that need to change,” he said.
“This goes beyond politics and who is the government.
“It’s not a matter of pointing the finger anywhere, but of getting on with the job and fixing the problems.”
A Dunghutti man from Kempsey on the north coast of New South Wales, Mr Laing practises as a barrister in Garfield Barwick Chambers in Sydney.
He previously served with the Royal Australian Army Legal Corps and the Australian Military Prosecutions Office, and was a member of the INTERFET contingent in East Timor in 1999.