ATSIC?

After talking to John Tracey about what’s needed to right the wrongs, I’ve been thinking a lot about a representative body for Indigenous Australia. Where New Zealand has special Maori seats in their parliament for five Maori electorates drawn from a special Maori electoral roll, Australia disbanded the peak Indigenous body, ATSIC. The Australian government should be putting resources towards building a representative body for the Aboriginal people that can make self-determination decisions themselves and have an operating budget that allows them to get things done.

Rather than being treated as a consultative body for when the government wants to tick the box that says “Consult Aborigines” on any given program, the new representative body should act as a sort of parallel parliament where Indigenous Australia can come together and put their collective wisdom and creativity together to decide their agenda and create their own fortune. I wouldn’t advocate creating a seperate roll for indigenous Australians (because they need to have their say in mainstream politics as well) but a special roll with appropriate electoral boundaries could be drawn up. Either that or the various Aboriginal local government bodies, existing under state law (perhaps a federal constitutional amendment might be needed to protect local government), could send delegates to a council.

Such a representative body could be more than consulted on Indigenous issues, they could be responsible for contributing Aboriginal policy as the Public Service helps create policy. Such a body could have tasks deferred to it such as the Apology. Imagine how much easier and more genuine it would’ve been for Kevin Rudd to do more than consult on the wording but ask the body what they wanted him to say. I honestly believe that such a body would allow indigenous Australia to take charge of its own future.