Indigenous self-determination is needed, not Abbott’s hand-picked board

The case for Indigenous self-determination ABC Indigenous, Sol Bellear October 21, 2013 If we want to shift Aboriginal disadvantage, then self-determination is the only way, writes Sol Bellear……..

The point that seems to have been lost on many readers – despite it appearing in the article several times – is that the High Court declined to make a finding on the basis of race. White people are just as entitled to have their background considered as people of colour. It was not a victory for Aboriginal people, it was a victory for ALL people … and common sense.

However, I argued that while I respected the High Court decision, the case I’ll celebrate is the one in which the High Court determines it has no jurisdiction over Aboriginal people. If we want to shift Aboriginal disadvantage, then self-determination is the only way to achieve that…….

Dozens of treaties have been signed in the US and Canada which afford First Nations communities varying degrees of genuine self-determination, from controlling their own schooling to giving them a real capacity to generate an economic base.

In the United States today, there are more than 250 Native American tribal courts across at least 32 states, which handle everything from criminal matters to family court……

Native Americans and First Nations people in Canada also have significant political structures which ensure a greater degree of power in their own communities. In Canada, they have the Assembly of First Nations. In the US, individual reservations act as partially autonomous bodies, providing their own law and policing, schooling, health, housing and infrastructure, and income through tax breaks and initiatives like casinos.

In New Zealand, Maori have seven seats which sit over the entire nation, in which only Maori can vote (although anyone can contest a seat).

This is real self-determination in action, yet none of these nations has imploded or been crippled by their relationships with their Aboriginal peoples. All of them have been enhanced…….

That’s not to suggest Australia doesn’t pretend to support self-determination, because we certainly do when the rest of the world is watching. In 2008, the Australian Government endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a document which was crafted specifically to set out the rights of First Peoples to govern their own lives and communities.

Yet virtually every Australian government policy announced since flies in the face of our stated international position. The Northern Territory intervention and its bastard son, the Strong Futures laws, for example, breach almost half the articles of the UN Declaration…….

In the coming weeks, the Abbott Government will unveil its signature Indigenous affairs policy – a hand-picked board of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people who will advise the government on the best ways forward for Indigenous peoples in this country.

It is the precise opposite of self-determination, light years from the only policies that have been shown to impact positively in other nations in a similar position.

It also happens to be a recycled policy that failed under the Howard government. It will fail under the Abbott government too because as history shows, the new National Indigenous Council will spend its time telling the government what it wants to hear, not what it needs to know……. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-21/bellear-indigenous-sovereignty/5032294/?site=indigenous&topic=latest