Linda Burney to deliver annual Oration in Adelaide

Hon Linda Burney MP will deliver the 15^th annual Lowitja O’Donoghue Oration at Bonython Hall in Adelaide tonight (Tuesday) during Reconciliation Week.

Ms Burney, the next Federal Indigenous affairs minister, has chosen as the title for her address ‘The Way Forward – Informed by the Past’.

The Oration honours the influential Aboriginal leader, Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG and gives a voice to vital issues for our nation’s first people.

More than 500 people are expected at the event, including South Australia’s Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Kyam Maher.

Rev Dr Lynn Arnold AO, Director and Patron of the Don Dunstan Foundation, which stages the Oration, said the Foundation felt privileged to be hosting the new Minister on the eve of her swearing in.

“The Oration is an important way to inspire action for a fairer world and give voice to issues of equity and equality for Australia’s first peoples,” Dr Arnold said.

“We are delighted to have Linda Burney, who has been a champion for issues important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people throughout her career, delivering this year’s Oration.

“Ms Burney has many ‘firsts’ to her name and will now add first Aboriginal woman to be Federal Indigenous affairs minister and first Aboriginal woman to sit in a Federal Cabinet.”

The Don Dunstan collaborates with Reconciliation SA, The University of Adelaide and Flinders University for each year’s Oration.

This year’s sponsors are SA Power Networks, BHP and the Government of South Australia.