The Guardian 12 December, 2007
Indigenous voters reject intervention
Darren Coyne
Former Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough was either mistaken or deluded when he claimed to have Indigenous support for his intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.
In August he confidently told The Koori Mail newspaper that the Aboriginal delegates descending on Canberra trying to halt his controversial legislation were not what he regarded as real Indigenous leaders.
He also said the legislation was for the "people on the ground" in the NT — "grassroots people".
"All of the ideas that came out of this came out of actual one-on-one encounters with people who gave me, basically, directions as the Minister such as: ‘Can you get rid of the grog? Can you reduce the disposable income? Can you make our communities safe? Can you treat us like white fellas, meaning in that the kids are going to school’... all those sorts of things", Mr Brough said.
He dismissed widespread concerns that the legislation was rammed through both houses of Parliament without proper consultation, and repeated his grassroots mantra whenever challenged about the more radical reforms he was introducing.
"Resounding message"
But on November 24, a massive majority of Aboriginal voters in the NT sent a resounding message to Mr Brough, and the Coalition Government led by Prime Minister John Howard.
At polling booths throughout the NT — and elsewhere — the Coalition copped a flogging which resulted in a landslide victory for the Australian Labor Party.
But the support for the ALP was perhaps nowhere more fervent than in the 70-odd remote Aboriginal communities specifically targeted by Mr Brough’s intervention.
In all but one of the remote polling booths that visited isolated Aboriginal communities in the NT, sitting Labor MP for Lingiari Warren Snowdon held onto power easily, winning with margins of up to 98 percent of the vote.
In Alice Springs, however, Mr Snowdon lost a little ground to CLP candidate Adam Giles, with a swing of just under three per cent against him. Despite that, Mr Snowdon said voters had well and truly rejected the more controversial aspects of the intervention.
"The CLP (Country Liberal Party) said this election was a referendum on the intervention. Well if that’s what they see it as being they’ve got their answer", he said. "[Aboriginal people] want to be dealt with fairly and they want people to sit down and talk with them, not talk at them."
The back of Brough
Meanwhile, the 10 percent swing against Mr Brough in his own Queensland seat of Longman was more than enough to send the former Minister packing.
Despite the rejection by the "grassroots people", Mr Brough remained convinced that his interventionist approach was the correct way to tackle the issues.
Mr Brough said he believed Labor would now go in the wrong direction, possibly returning what he described as the politically correct "cafe latte" approach.
"The thing that hurt me and my wife the most ... was to know that more than likely it will all unravel, and what that will do to people."
Mr Brough appealed to Labor to continue the NT intervention, to which it gave bipartisan support earlier this year.
But he said he feared it would be watered down.
Labor has already promised to bring back the Aboriginal work-for-the-dole scheme, CDEP, in the NT and is likely to bring back the permit system and reverse the compulsory acquisition of Indigenous land under five-year leases.
Other aspects of the intervention — alcohol and pornography bans — would be reviewed within the next 12 months.
For those leaders who travelled to Canberra trying to stop the legislation in the first place, Mr Brough’s exit from politics was welcomed.
Tasmanian Aboriginal leader Michael Mansell said Aboriginal people across Australia would be relieved to see the backs of Mr Howard and Mr Brough.
"Both Brough and Howard missed the cynicism the electorate had towards the motives of the Coalition for invading Aboriginal communities in the lead up to the election", he said.
Meanwhile, there was no joy at the booths in the hometowns of the Aboriginal leaders who supported Mr Brough’s intervention.
The vote for the ALP in the booth of Hopevale — Noel Pearson’s hometown — was 75 percent (a swing of 21 per cent to the ALP), while the booth in Yirrkala, the home of Arnhem Land leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu, delivered only two votes to the CLP out of a possible 266 voters.
Mr Pearson has been unavailable for comment despite requests for an interview from The Koori Mail since the election.
Michael Mansell, who is Legal Director for the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, predicted that Mr Pearson was likely to be another casualty in the fallout of the demise of John Howard.
Mr Mansell said Mr Pearson had enjoyed a prominent position on Aboriginal matters and enjoyed a close relationship with PM Howard, but his comments before the election against Kevin Rudd would go against him.
Mr Mansell accused Mr Pearson of taking sides in the election by openly supporting the Coalition while describing Mr Rudd as "disgraceful and heartless".
"In doing so, Mr Pearson broke the golden rule of the Aboriginal movement: Aboriginal issues are above party politics and must never be embroiled in the battle between political parties, as to do so reduces the inherent character of Aboriginal matters from national importance to run of the mill", he said.
Mr Yunupingu, on the other hand, has since thrown his support behind changes in the Northern Territory Government, which resulted in Paul Henderson becoming Chief Minister and Marion Scrymgour as his deputy, and Indigenous Policy Minister.
The intervention played a major role in the decision of former Chief Minister Clare Martin — a favourite target of Mr Brough — to quit politics last month.
She admitted to having been bruised by Federal Government attacks that she had failed to act quickly enough on a damning report on child abuse in the Territory.
"I won’t deny that the intervention has had a big impact on my decision", Ms Martin said.
"The last six months for me — and it is probably why I use a level of emotion here — have been the toughest of my political career. Every single day has been tough."
Ms Martin accused the outgoing Federal Government of "political opportunism" and said an admission by former Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer that the Government had hoped the intervention would prove popular and lift results in the polls made her "feel ill".
"It just underpinned the cynicism that I have always felt was there", she said.
"The way it was done — and not what needs to be done — but the way it was done."
Mr Yunupingu welcomed the changes in the NT.
"This new team should be excited at the opportunity that they have to play a role in shaping the emergency intervention in the Northern Territory, at working towards constitutional recognition of Aboriginal Indigenous people, and creating life-changing outcomes for Aboriginal people," he said.
"There is major unfinished business in the Northern Territory and the times are right to address these issues at a local and a national level."
As counting continued last week, Olga Havnen, CEO of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT and spokeswoman for the National Aboriginal Alliance, said the change of government could be transformative for Indigenous people.
"Mal Brough has lost the trust of Aboriginal people and John Howard has lost the trust of the Australian people", she said.
Ms Havnen said the magnitude of the swing against Mr Brough showed the intervention was a critical factor in the election.
"Not only is this intervention a travesty against Aboriginal people’s rights, but it has been a shambles."
Acknowledgements: Koori Mail