THE ABORIGINAL RIGHTS TREATY THAT NEVER CAME The historic treaty - TopicsExpress

THE ABORIGINAL RIGHTS TREATY THAT NEVER CAME The historic treaty that former prime minister Bob Hawke promised the Aboriginal people has still not eventuated, a quarter of a century later, writes Damien Murphy. Bob Hawke attended the Barunga festival in the Northern Territory in June 1988 and promised a historic treaty with the Aboriginal people. The Hawke government had been promising to improve representation of Aboriginal interests and issues, but by 1985 attempts to frame a national model for land rights had stalled in compromise, amid farmer and miner opposition and distrust from Aboriginal groups. So Hawkes treaty had more than a touch of the sun about it. In 1987 the new minister for Aboriginal affairs, Gerry Hand, had proposed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was established. Advertisement The Barunga statement, which hangs in Parliament House. The Barunga statement, which hangs in Parliament House.Photo: Andrew Taylor The commissions workload had first been estimated as 44 reported deaths requiring investigation, but already that number had increased to 120 (99 cases were finally selected for investigation). But in February 1988, Hand and the Minister for Justice, Michael Tate, told cabinet that it would be unacceptable to limit the number of cases, just as it was politically unwise to significantly delay the release of the commissions findings. The expense of additional commissioners and staff was justified by the imperative of concluding a full report as soon possible. Cabinet agreed to four commissioners; a fifth was appointed in November 1988. The terms of reference were widened. In April 1989, when Commissioner Hal Wootton had weighed whether the practices he was examining amounted to genocide, the cabinet was persuaded that handling public perceptions must be a particular focus. Whatever the prospects of a treaty, various issues were brought to the cabinets attention, including mining on traditional lands; the lack of any progress since the 1970s in excising living areas from Northern Territory stock routes; and the basic, entrenched and widespread social disadvantage of Aboriginal people. The 1988-89 budget included a 23 per cent increase in spending on the Aboriginal affairs portfolio, with a focus on essential services for communities. Hand argued strenuously against the Expenditure Review Committees concerns that the Community Development Employment Projects scheme - by then reaching urban communities in New South Wales and Victoria - enabled recipients to double-dip into Family Assistance Supplements. Hand insisted CDEP was a labour market program, not a welfare one. Though he won his case on the day, Hand was on the losing side of the schemes longer-term assessment. He also argued also for more money for ATSIC. If ATSIC starts its life under-resourced, we doom it to failure, he warned the cabinet. ATSIC finally first met the following April. John Howard closed what opponents called the experiment with indigenous self-government in 2004.

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