Call to oppose the scrapping of ATSIC*


Statement by ATSIC NSW West Commissioner Steve Gordon

The Federal Government's move to revive mission management 
practices and gag the voice of Indigenous Australia is an outrage 
and should be opposed by all right-thinking Australians.

The Government's plans to hand over successfully-run ATSIC 
programs to mainstream failures, ranks with a range of other 
discredited government policies of the past such as separating 
children from their families, the breast plates Indigenous people 
had to wear as identification and the assimilation policy.

As ATSIC's longest serving Commissioner, however, I believe the 
Prime Minister, John Howard's scheme is even more sinister than 
transferring ownership of Indigenous service delivery programs to 
mainstream agencies.

At the same time as Mr Howard is prosecuting a war in Iraq in the 
name of introducing democracy to the Middle East, at home he is 
moving to strip Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of 
their right to vote for their own elected representatives and 
advisers to government.

The last ATSIC elections during 2002 saw a record number of 
voters, more than 50,000, vote for their Aboriginal 
representatives. The election was conducted under the national 
campaign theme of "Your Right to be Heard". Mr Howard is moving 
to take away that right.

His proposal for a hand-picked Indigenous advisory panel is 
nothing more than an attempt to gag and shutdown Indigenous 
Australia. When Mr Howard appointed the previous ATSIC Chairman, 
Gatjil Djerrkura, he would not talk to him for half of his three-
year term because the Chairman was telling him what he didn't 
want to hear — the voice of Aboriginal Australia.

I urge all Indigenous people to refuse any offer from the 
government to join their advisory panel because it is attempting 
to remove the democratically-elected Indigenous leadership of 
Australia. Mr Howard's scheme will also almost certainly prevent 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from travelling 
internationally to report to the United Nations about the true 
state of Indigenous Affairs in this country.

This would stop ATSIC and other organisations from informing the 
UN about issues such as racially discriminatory laws introduced 
by Mr Howard's government to wind back High Court rulings which 
have recognised the legitimacy of Indigenous Land Rights claims.

Mr Howard is also hoping that by winding back the cause of 
Indigenous Australians by at least 50 years that he will kill off 
ATSIC's continuing campaign for a Treaty or similar agreements to 
achieve a just and fair settlement of the unfinished business of 
216 years of colonial settlement.

For too long it has been too easy for Indigenous issues to be put 
on the back burner by departments which have little experience or 
expertise in dealing with the real issues that affect our people.

Governments failed to deliver meaningful services for over a 
century prior to the establishment of ATSIC. If they know any 
better now, it is only because they have learned from ATSIC what 
effective program delivery means. Mainstreaming has failed in the 
past and will fail in the future.

Thirty years ago we were forced to take to the streets to voice 
Aboriginal issues. Without ATSIC, we will have no option but to 
take to the streets again. There will be no other way for our 
voices to be heard. No longer will Aboriginal people 
democratically elect representatives from their communities to 
speak on our behalf. I urge all Australians to support such 
protests in NSW and elsewhere in the coming months.

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*ATSIC is the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission.