New ATSIC a “White Man’s Dream” – Mundine
Former ALP President and Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has dismissed the 2020 summit suggestion of a new representative body for indigenous people as a “white man’s dream” and he’s certainly got the support of political turncoat come sitting duck Brendan Nelson. Mundine claims that the abolition of ATSIC meant “sweet bugger all” to Aboriginal Australians and that the money would be better spent grooming community leaders and entrepreneurs.
I, like Pat Dodson in “Dear Mr Rudd”, believe we should be identifying community leaders and giving them and their communities support but what good is it if there’s no chance for them to get together as representatives of their communities and work together to achieve goals on a larger scale than their town or shire? A re-established indigenous representation body wouldn’t have to be served by a bureaucracy and wouldn’t have to mirror the composition of the Australian Parliament. Members could be delegates rather than elected representatives and could come from many different bodies such as Indigenous Local Government bodies (Mayors or Councillors), Land Councils and groups like ANTaR.
Such a body need not be treated as a mirror parliament with the same responsibilities and could in fact play an advisory role to state and federal governments (at the appropriate level, embracing the idea of subsidiarity). Where John Howard would try and get Noel Pearson on board and claim that his policy was supported by Aboriginal leaders, a national, representative body can truly claim to speak for Indigenous Australia. If we want to bring Indigenous Australia into the new society which Rudd is building, we must give them a voice. We must allow Indigenous people to discuss their own issues in a national forum rather than waiting for the Neville Bonners and Aden Ridgeways of the country to make it to Parliament.
More from Mark at Larvartus Prodeo about whether the summit will lead to serious changes in ALP policy.
Again, the U.N. declaration on Indigenous rights provides clear international law principles for indigenous self government.
Full marks and much praise to Bob Brown for taking a model of Aboriginal sovereignty consistant with the U.N. declaration into the 2020 thingumyjig.
http://www.bobbrown.org.au/600_media_sub.php?deptItemID=2577
There are problems with this proposal, the big one being what about all the Aboriginal people who do not live in remote areas?
But the mode of policy is much more profound and mature than all the other 2020 discussion of what self determination might mean
I hope the Greens follow up on Saint Bob’s vision as a policy framework, not just for “indigenous issues” but more importantly basic policy of land including “wilderness” management especially Cape York.