As a torrid year in Australian politics draws to a close, it’s a good time to look back at the life and career of the man known as the father of reconciliation, who recently announced he’s permanently departing the federal arena.
Yawuru elder Pat Dodson began his life in Broome, but his family had to flee Western Australia when he was a small child, due to laws forbidding mixed race families. Disaster followed when he and his younger brother Mick lost both their parents when Pat was just 12, making them wards of the state.
After winning a scholarship to a boarding school in Victoria, Pat Dodson upset expectations by shining as an academic and sporting leader, before becoming the first Aboriginal person to become a Catholic priest.
Reportedly finding it impossible to reconcile the different elements of his spirituality, he later left the priesthood, but carried a sense of mission into numerous senior roles, including as Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, then Chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
Politics
Pat Dodson’s federal political career began when he was appointed by Labor to fill a WA Senate vacancy in 2016, before being re-elected in his own right in 2019. Promises of a ministry came to nothing when Bill Shorten failed to win government, although Mr Dodson served on the inquiry into the destruction of Juukan Gorge and supported the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which he was later charged with implementing, in full, following Labor’s victory in 2022, when he became Special Envoy for Reconciliation.
As the stress surrounding the referendum campaign intensified, Mr Dodson was diagnosed with lymphoma, which meant he was physically incapable of playing the central role of bridge-builder and advocate for the Voice which he was uniquely qualified for.
Very late in the campaign, following chemotherapy, he addressed the National Press Club via video link from Broome, unrecognisable to many without his flowing white beard, but still wearing the hat which made him a distinctive sight in the corridors of political power.
He talked about his fear as a child that he and his people would all disappear, which motivated much of his later activism, on issues ranging from suicide to incarceration, poverty to injustice, all stemming from the unique post-colonial history of First Australians.
‘We’re going nowhere and the No campaign wants to stay there,’ he said. Mr Dodson suggested the Voice offered the chance for Australia to find the basis for unity, hope, courage and trust, saying ‘there’s nothing to fear with this referendum.’
Alas, the voices of fear were already overwhelming by this stage, drowning out everything else.
Sorrow
Mr Dodson has recently said the reason for his early departure from politics is that he’s unable to fulfil the duties of his office while continuing his treatment for cancer, but it’s clear the loss of the Voice has also been a heavy blow.
As he put it, ‘I do leave this place with some sense of sorrow, in that as a nation we were not able to respond positively to the referendum. I think that would have helped our country.’
Both sides of politics have commended Senator Dodson’s contribution to the cause of reconciliation. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described him as a figure of grace, dignity and inspiration. ‘There are few more reassuring sights in parliament than seeing Patrick and his hat coming down a corridor towards you,’ said Mr Albanese.
‘You would gladly follow him into battle yet he’s made it his life’s work to make peace. From the moment he entered parliament, he has made this place a better one,’ he said.
Pat Dodson’s departure from the Senate is a great setback for both Australia and the ALP, which tragically lost another of its better angels recently with the death of Victorian MP Peta Murphy, who fought the gambling industry as well as cancer during her short time in office.
Hopefully Mr Dodson will at least now have a chance to recover and continue to contribute to his country from outside the political tent. Always a man who understood the power of symbolism, Pat Dodson has announced he’s leaving politics on Australia Day 2024.
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning film-maker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.
Long ago, he did work experience in Parliament House with Mungo MacCallum.
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