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Noel Pearson's Last Speech

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Speeches made within the past are still relevant to today’s society as the issues they have faced are significant to the values of the present. The statement: "Any significant and valued speech is able to transcend its immediate context", is exemplified within Paul Keating 's Redfern Address (1992) and Noel Pearson 's An Australian History for Us All (1996). Within these speeches, the themes of taking responsibility for actions and the importance of reconciliation resonate as they have influenced change in present-day Australia through new laws and forming the basis of Australian society.
Conducted in a predominantly Aboriginal community, the former Prime Minister of Australia, Paul Keating addresses a controversial topic in celebration of …show more content…

The notion of responsibility for actions is also exemplified in Pearson 's speech, as he presents an argument that the Australian community should take responsibility for Australia 's past injustices. Pearson expresses the need for the Australian community to have a sense of responsibility through pathos and repetition as he subtly instils a sense of guilt within the Australian community. Furthermore, Pearson continues to respond to the audience 's pathos in the use of irony, "For how can we as a contemporary community in 1996 share and celebrate in the achievements of the past, indeed feel responsibility for and express pride in aspects of our past, and not feel responsibility for and express shame in relation to other aspects of the past?” His statement is hard-hitting and causes the audience to reconsider their neglect towards the idea of holding responsibility for Colonial Australia 's actions.
These speeches were able to reflect the statement that significant and valued speeches are able to transcend its immediate context as they have become a stepping stone in Australian society by influencing a change to reflect our values, evidently seen through former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd’s Sorry Speech (2007) in the acknowledgement of the maltreatment of Aboriginal people which brought Australia closer to

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