The ABC's executive editor John Lyons is followed by an AFP officer during raids.Credit:David Gray
His next target was his own profession,which had to"share responsibility for the great failures of our time",he said.
The first of those failings was on climate change."We are still stuck in the mire of drab,dishonest arguments that will come at great cost to future generations,"O'Brien said."We,the journalists,have not cut through the fake news effectively. We have not properly held politicians to account."
He then moved on to what he described as the"one big glaring gap in this nation's otherwise great story … the failure to reconcile Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia".
When he began his career,he said,Indigenous Australians were not even counted in the national census."On paper,they didn't exist."
Pat Anderson,Sally Scales and Irene Davey are pictured in May 2017 holding a piti with the Uluru Statement from the Heart.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Such racism still existed today – just look inside any prison and you will see the proof,he said – but one tool to bring it to an end is available.
"We all have an opportunity together in this term of the Federal Parliament to make a genuine effort to understand and support what is embodied in the Uluru Statement From the Heart,a remarkable document,forged in unity by more than 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders representing the oldest surviving culture on the face of the Earth,a culture that adds a richness that is unique to this continent. And yet we other Australians are mostly ignorant of it."
He added that,contrary to claims from some quarters,"the Uluru statement represents no threat to a single individual in any corner of this country,and certainly no threat to the integrity of Parliament. And if you're told that,don't you believe it. On the contrary,it will add much to the integrity of our nation.
"We like to be seen as one nation made up of many parts,"he said."Now it's time to prove it."