Bringing Them Home report; the final report of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation; and a myriad of others. Most of them cherry-picked or ignored," she added.
Ms Burney said Aboriginal Australians remain the most disadvantaged group in this country.
She said treating Aboriginal people as just a particular disadvantaged group who need temporary extra services to bring them into the mainstream was not the answer.
"We must act for the long-term and find sustainable solutions to the underlying causes. We must work in partnership with the communities involved. We must recognise that different communities require different approaches. There is no one-size-fits-all solution."
Ms Burney said reconciliation was "like the tide".
"Some days it comes crashing with awesome power and a sense that all around will be swept up in it. At other times, the tide is low, the beach swept clean and you feel that everything will have to start over."
"Much has been done over the last 15 to 20 years to tell all Australians the truth: groundbreaking research by historians, years of curriculum reform, 16 years of publicity by the Reconciliation Council and Reconciliation Australia, all the work by the dedicated people at the grassroots of the people's movement," she said.
"Yet in 2006 we have the federal Minister for Education launching a paper by the Menzies Research Centre that calls for Aboriginal culture to be taken out of schools. It is almost impossible to put into words the distress being felt at the roll-back in Aboriginal Affairs."
"At the time of the 1996 election, Mr Howard was quoted saying the pendulum had swung too far -- as you can see he's given it a hell of a thump back. Most recently of course Mr Howard and Mr Brough have concocted their scheme in the Northern Territory, but this is not a single instance, it has brewing for years."
The full text of Linda Burney's address.
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