Communist Party Policies:
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

The Communist Party supports the right of the Aboriginal and Torres 
Strait Islander people to communal, inalienable land rights, based upon 
traditional ownership, religious association and long occupancy and/or 
need. Aboriginal land titles should include full rights to minerals and 
other natural resources on or below ground level as well as to all sacred 
sites, heritage areas and areas of traditional significance. This right to 
extend to the adjacent sea.

The Indigenous people were the prior owners and occupiers of all Australian 
territories and were deprived of their land and their rights upon the 
invasion of the Australian continent by white settlers in 1788.

The herding of the Indigenous people onto reserves and the breaking up of 
families by the separation of Aboriginal children from their parents, the 
neglect of health services, education and job opportunities were and 
continue to be discriminatory and very often racist in character.

Little by little the prior occupancy and ownership by the Indigenous people 
has been recognised firstly by the High Court's Mabo decision and more 
recently in the Crocker Island decision which concerned sea rights. 
Although some land rights have been won after many years of struggle by the 
Indigenous people and their supporters, their rights have often been 
limited and every effort is being made by the present Howard Government to 
wind back earlier legislation which went some distance to recognise their 
right to land.

The life expectancy for Aboriginal people is 15 to 20 years less than the 
general population. Infant mortality is three to five times higher. 
Infectious diseases are 12 times higher than the Australian average. The 
unemployment rate for the Indigenous population is far higher than the 
national average, as is their imprisonment rate.

Amendments to the Native Title Act by the Howard Government have stripped 
back the rights of the Indigenous people to pursue land claims and was 
implemented to satisfy the greed of the big and powerful mining, pastoral 
and tourism industries.

While the movement for "reconciliation" has done much to win the sympathy 
and support of large numbers of the white Australian population for the 
Aboriginal cause it has not yet led to the full recognition of the prior 
ownership and occupancy of the Australian continent by the Aboriginal and 
Torres Strait Islander people and has not led to an improvement in land 
rights legislation.

Land rights do not threaten the property or possessions of ordinary 
Australians, such as individual home owners, nor would land rights stop 
mining, as the big mining companies and opponents of land rights claim. 
Land rights are essential to provide jobs and economically viable 
communities. They would strengthen Aboriginal culture and enrich 
Australia's cultural heritage.

The Communist Party calls for:

* The conclusion of a treaty between the Australian Government and the 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands Commission (ATSIC) and any other 
appropriate Aboriginal representative body. The treaty to be concluded 
after public consultation with both the Aboriginal and white Australian 
communities and to incorporate recognition of the prior occupation and 
ownership of the Australian continent before the first white settlement.

* Land rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders together with 
control of the natural resources of the land and the adjacent sea.

* Land rights to be communal and inalienable, based on traditional 
ownership, religious association, long occupancy and/or need.

* Indigenous communities to be able to develop communally owned land as 
autonomous areas where they can develop their own economic, social and 
cultural life.

Land Councils to be supported by legislation and funding to research and 
determine land claims and, where desired by local communities, to 
administer Aboriginal land.

* Title to all areas of sacred and traditional significance to be 
transferred to the local Aboriginal communities or the body of their 
choice.

* Strict implementation of the steps recommended by the Royal Commission 
into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody to prevent further deaths in custody.

* Necessary funding to assist members of the Stolen Generation of 
Indigenous people to find their families and to be rehabilitated.

* Adequate price levels for Aboriginal works of art. The use of Aboriginal 
motifs and emblems to be subject to licence.

* Study of the history of Aboriginal people to be included in education 
curriculums.

* Medical services to be expanded with increased and secure funding, in 
consultation with Indigenous communities.

* Greater funding for Indigenous housing, welfare and employment. The 
restoration of Abstudy.