Lands Councilor Charles Lynch said at Glen Innes' NAIDOC celebrations last month that he thinks it's time for all Australians to take pride in the nation's traditional history.
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"For me (NAIDOC is) very important because we all have a history to be very proud of," he said.
"We have got a dark past; there's that generational trauma that's been caused from some ugly periods of our being.
"But gee we've got the richest and best culture in living history. For me it's about sharing that.
"I think Australia's up for that. I think all Australians really want to be part of that and learn our history and our culture."
Celebrations, which included traditional dance and a number of speeches, including an address by Councilor Lynch, who is also NSW lands council deputy chair, took place at the King George park.
Mr Lynch said the number one issue for his 27,000 members remains protection of heritage and culture, pointing to a lack of legislative protections for sacred or culturally significant sites from economic growth.
He was one of the 250 Indigenous leaders to sign the Statement from the Heart which calls for a constitutional amendment to create a voice to Federal parliament.
"The constitution allows the commonwealth to develop legislation and implement it without consent or consulting Aboriginal people, and actually they can do that for people of any race," he said.
"For a government to have control over saying to a race they can't vote..."
He said the infamous "race powers", which are contained in Section 51 of the Constitution, are out of date.
"Maybe if we stopped thinking about it just being and Aboriginal issue: it's a race issue. It's about time they're amended or changed."
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