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Labor's all-of-government approach is good for Indigenous policy

By Fred Chaney - posted Tuesday, 13 April 2004


It's always easy to have the wisdom of hindsight but in my view governments never really worked alongside ATSIC and never allowed it to provide the core function originally intended of it, as a provider of policy advice.

In that sense, the experiment tapered off right from the start and, over time, ATSIC became an easy target. Whenever things went wrong, ATSIC was always blamed, by governments as well as the general public. The reality was, mistakes were often the fault of governments or their agencies that had failed to do the job they should have for Aboriginal people.

It is easy to point to the failures of ATSIC but at the regional level in particular it is important to recognise the useful engagements that have been forged between the Indigenous community and ATSIC, and other agencies. At the local level there have been many success stories.

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At the national level, in terms of leadership, ATSIC has been able, at different times, to play an important leadership role. Leaders like Lowitja O'Donoghue carried a lot of weight in the community, were seen as very significant figures and commanded general respect.

Before ATSIC, the National Aboriginal Conference was an elected body that provided an important public voice for Aboriginal people. As Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, I valued the fact that powerful Aboriginal leaders and spokespeople came through that process and, in a sense, kept us honest and kept our noses as governments to the grindstone.

When you mix that representative role with program delivery, it becomes much more complicated. In the general community, we have elections for politicians, who are essentially the voice of the people and the legislators. We don't elect our public servants, the people who actually deliver the programs.

Again, I would quote Lowitja O’Donoghue, who many years ago urged that there be a separation of the service -delivery function from the representative function of ATSIC. That is the cue the government appears to have picked up on in its current deliberations on the future of ATSIC, and would appear to have influenced the thinking of the Labor Party as well.

Of late, leadership issues at ATSIC have been a huge distraction from the real issues of Indigenous affairs and reconciliation.

As a non-Aboriginal Australian, I wouldn’t want to say to Indigenous people what kind of structure they need for ensuring they have a voice. What we would say at Reconciliation Australia is that it’s important that there is a national voice for Aboriginal people, that there are Indigenous leaders who talk to government and help to inform government about the needs of the community, and how best to respond to them.

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It remains important that there is a significant capacity for Indigenous Australians to influence the debate and to influence the approaches that governments take in citizenship entitlements to Aboriginal people.

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About the Author

Fred Chaney is Co-Chair of Reconciliation Australia and Deputy President of the National Native Title Tribunal. He was Federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs between 1978 and 1980.

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All articles by Fred Chaney
Related Links
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
Australian Labor Party
Reconciliation Australia
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