Mission & Justice

Natasha Robinson & Padraic Murphy; 23/7/08

Kevin Rudd today will make his first visit to a remote indigenous community since being elected Prime Minister, holding a historic cabinet meeting at the homeland of one of Australia’s most powerful indigenous leaders. Led by indigenous powerbroker Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Aboriginal people from Yirrkala, at the eastern tip of the Gulf of Carpentaria, are gearing up to welcome Mr Rudd to Arnhem Land and to tell his cabinet what Aboriginal people want from their federal Government. After a visit to Cairns yesterday, Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin last night flew to the mining town of Nhulunbuy, 600km east of Darwin, ahead of the cabinet and stayed in the nurses’ quarters at the Gove District Hospital. Mr Rudd touched down in Darwin last night and will fly with his cabinet to Nhulunbuy this morning before travelling to Yirrkala, 18km from Nhulunbuy on Cape Arnhem.

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Elizabeth Gosch; 21/7/08

Pilbara indigenous leaders have raised concerns that the region has been left off the schedule for the first round of consultation meetings on the proposed National Indigenous Representative Body. The federal Government is investigating the creation of a new national indigenous body to replace the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, which was scrapped by the Howard government in 2004. Later this month, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs will begin holding meetings across the country to seek ideas and recommendations for the new body.

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Natasha Robinson; 19/7/08

Aboriginal academic Marcia Langton has called for the establishment of an indigenous representative body empowered with probing state and territory spending of commonwealth grants, to end “rent-seeking” on the back of black disadvantage. In a submission to the federal Government’s inquiry on a national indigenous representative body, Professor Langton argues that millions of dollars in commonwealth grants to the states for overcoming extreme indigenous disadvantage is diverted to looking after the white middle classes. She describes it as a “rent-seeking” arrangement that “benefits the states’ capable non-indigenous citizens and accelerates the disadvantage levels of indigenous citizens”. Professor Langton, the chair of Australian indigenous studies at Melbourne University, argues: “These monies rarely find their way back to those communities to the extent intended by the Grants Commission.”

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Stephen Lunn; 18/7/08

Pope Benedict XVI should not be praising Kevin Rudd for his “courageous” apology to the indigenous Stolen Generations when he hasn’t been prepared to say sorry to victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests. Victims’ support group Broken Rites yesterday expressed disappointment the Pope had so far failed to make a meaningful public apology to abuse victims during World Youth Day celebrations after earlier suggesting he would. The group’s spokeswoman, Chris MacIsaac, said the pontiff had an ideal opportunity while in Australia to say sorry to hundreds of abuse victims in a similar vein to Mr Rudd’s apology to indigenous Australians taken from their families, but even if he expressed regret, it is likely to be carefully crafted. “The victims need an apology made with emotion, one that convinces them deep down the Catholic Church hierarchy understands how sexual abuse affected their lives,” Ms MacIsaac said. “Mr Rudd did that for the Stolen Generation, there were victims present on the day, and he also made it clear it was a only a starting point to the healing, which is something the Pope could also consider saying.

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Natasha Robinson and Amanda O’Brien; 18/7/08

A key adviser to the federal Government’s intervention review board has called for a royal commission to investigate the Northern Territory Government’s spending on Aboriginal affairs, following claims commonwealth grants were being deliberately mismanaged for political ends. The concerns about the Territory Government’s spending on indigenous services come as parents in the Perth suburb of Cannington prepare to face similar welfare penalties to those to be applied under the intervention to parents in five Aboriginal communities in the Territory should their children fail to attend school. Federal Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin said about 1000 parents in Cannington could lose welfare payments for up to three months next year if their children skipped school. But she said authorities would first work with the parents to try to resolve truancy issues, and payments would be stopped only if all else failed.

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Tom Calma; 14/7/08

A singer will tell you that a voice is the most personal and powerful instrument in a group. You can’t “play” a voice, it’s inside you and it’s the only one of its kind. Without a voice, you fall silent and you’re forced to rely on others to speak for you. Sometimes people will speak in your interests, but it will never be your voice. For much of Australia’s history, indigenous people have had no voice in debates about their own future. To be successful in making lasting progress to improve conditions for indigenous people and their communities, they need a strong national voice. The Australian Government has already acknowledged the need for a representative body. The Prime Minister also expressed his desire in the apology speech “to embrace a new partnership between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians”. The Howard government also supported the establishment of an indigenous representative body. It’s time to flesh out these commitments to ensure the full participation and input of indigenous peoples into government policy and decision making.

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Michelle Grattan; 13/7/08

Kevin Rudd’s “community cabinets” have already been held in Perth, Brisbane, western Sydney and Mackay. On Wednesday week cabinet will make a very different excursion for its community meeting — to Yirrkala, near Gove in Arnhem Land. In Nhulunbuy invitation-only forums will be held on health and housing, education and employment, business and environment and infrastructure. The trip mixes symbolism and practicality, a duality marking the early days of Labor’s approach to indigenous affairs.

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Frank Walker; 13/7/08

Four ancient Aboriginal rock engravings have been uncovered at an archaeological dig on the Sydney Harbour foreshore. They are part of an Aboriginal site that had been partly covered over by a roadway at Waverton more than 80 years ago. The carvings - an image of a man, two “spirit men” with rays emanating from their heads, and what appears to be a school of fish - were found just off Balls Head Road next to an engraving of a whale with a man inside its belly that has long enthralled visitors.

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Sarah Smiles; 12/7/08

A new body representing indigenous Australia, with powers to directly question ministers and bureaucrats and advise on policy, has been proposed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma. The body could play a role in Senate estimates committees, enabling it to grill officials over their performance in indigenous policy and service delivery. It could evolve into an indigenous chamber of Parliament giving Aborigines a voice in national decision making.

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4/7/08

The Papua New Guinea people to first experience major contact by Europeans want compensation from Australia and Britain for what they say was more than a century of colonial neglect. New president of the Motu Koita people, Miria Ikupu, made the historic claim to PNG’s former colonial masters, along with PNG’s present government, in his first address as leader today. Ikupu said his 45,000 people, who inhabit PNG’s east coast in and around the capital of Port Moresby, have not seen one cent from successive administrations despite continued promises, the first from Queen Victoria. “The Motu Koita people, who are the original inhabitants and owners of Port Moresby City, have been denied and neglected from their land rights and the benefits,” he told AAP. “The former British and Australian colonial administrations forcefully took our land and built the now city of Port Moresby.

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