This Australia Day, Spend 8 Minutes Watching Stan Grant's Powerful Anti-Racism Speech

There is so much to be proud of this Australia Day; so much to celebrate and so much to be grateful for.

However, any proud Australian – especially on this day – should take stock of our nation’s history and acknowledge where we came from, and wonder if we’re doing enough to make our country better.

It’s fitting, then, that The Ethics Centre recently released video from last October of esteemed Australian journalist Stan Grant delivering a powerful speech on the nation’s historical treatment of its Indigenous people.

His speech (newly revealed to have been delivered off the cuff) took place during an IQ2 debate that asked if racism was destroying the Australian dream. Grant, a Wiradjuri man, was part of the team arguing, yes, indeed it was.

“The Australian Dream: We sing of it and we recite it in verse,” he said.

"Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free. My people die young in this country; we die 10 years younger than average Australians, and we are far from free."

Speaking to the statistics around incarceration of Indigenous people, Grant noted that an “Indigenous child is more likely to be locked up in prison than they are to finish high school."

With nearly a million views on Facebook since being shared on January 21, it’s clear that Grant’s speech has struck a nerve among hundreds of thousands of Australians who feel similarly.

“We are an extraordinary country; we are in so many respects the envy of the world,” he concluded.

“If I was sitting here [gesturing to the other team], where my friends are tonight, I would be arguing passionately for this country. But I stand here with my ancestors and the view looks very different from where I stand.”

On Australia Day, we collectively celebrate our heritage, our diversity and our future.

Consider Stan Grant’s speech a much-needed reminder of what’s left for us to achieve.