Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu recently demanded that the Howard government return the Barunga Statement, according to the National Indigenous Times. The Statement, which is a bark etching surrounded by a traditional indigenous painting, calls for the federal government’s full recognition of civil, economic, social, and cultural rights for indigenous Australians. It is currently hanging in the Parliament building’s Great Hall in Canberra. Yunupingu, who is widely regarded as the most influential indigenous leader in the Northern Territory, presented the art to former Prime Minister Bob Hawke in 1988 as a symbol of peace between white and Aboriginal Australians. With the support of other Aboriginal leaders, Yunupingu now seeks the return of the Statement "to protest against the failure of successive governments to tackle Aboriginal disadvantage," The Age reports.
