Social Justice Report 2002
Chapter 1: Introduction
This year's Report discusses a large number of initiatives currently underway or in development at the federal, state and territory levels in relation to policy making in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. It notes for example the following positive developments in Indigenous policy:
- The commitment
of governments at all levels to partnerships with Indigenous people,
including through statements of commitment to negotiate service delivery
arrangements with Indigenous organisations and commitments to negotiating
justice agreements;
- The commitment
of the federal Government to principles for the equitable provision
of services to Indigenous people as part of a broad-ranging response
to the Commonwealth Grants Commission's Report on Indigenous funding;
- Recognition by
governments of the central importance of capacity building of Indigenous
communities and of supporting and developing Indigenous governance structures;
- The commitment
of the Council of Australian Governments to processes for addressing
Indigenous disadvantage, including the establishment of a framework
for reporting on Indigenous disadvantage, the formulation of action
plans at the inter-governmental level in specific areas and a trial
in ten communities of a whole-of-government approach to service delivery;
and
- Support of the federal Government at the international level to the effective operation of the newly created United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
Overall, however, the Report evidences that the past year has been another difficult one for Indigenous people in this country. In trying to provide a snapshot of the status of Indigenous policy making and achievements by governments over the past year, it is difficult to see any consistent forward trend. There have been marginal improvements in some statistical indicators, but deterioration in others. The policy approaches of governments are ultimately full of inconsistencies, ad hoc developments, and commitments that not only remain unmet but which are not adequately supported by institutional developments.
The framework for Indigenous policy making at the federal level has also become an ever-reductive one, constantly becoming more limiting and constraining of Indigenous peoples' aspirations. This has occurred through three significant High Court decisions which have destroyed the capacity for native title to be anything more than a marginal influence and through the continued rejection by the federal Government of anything that does not meet its expectations for 'practical' reconciliation.
There have been two particularly worrying trends that have been confirmed over the past year at the federal level. The first is a continuation of the antagonistic and adversarial approach to Indigenous policy by the Government. Substantial bi-partisan support for reconciliation and directions in Indigenous policy has been undermined by the limited focus of the Government. Those areas on which there is common ground are relatively few - and basically relate to agreement on the need to overcome Indigenous disadvantage - and there is even less agreement on what are the best ways to address such issues.
The second worrying trend is what has effectively been the relegation of Indigenous issues to a second tier issue for the Government. While reconciliation was a priority for the second term of the Government, it does not even rate a mention in recent announcements of the Government's strategic long term vision for Australian society. Indigenous issues are not treated as a national priority, and there are no public commitments to timeframes for achieving results in areas on which there is substantial agreement - such as Indigenous disadvantage.
At the state and territory levels, there is much goodwill being expressed with extensive commitments to partnerships with Indigenous people. These partnerships remain works in progress and it is unfortunate that they have not yet been accompanied by the necessary institutional support or action.
In Queensland, for example, the Queensland Government continues to implement its ambitious program under the Ten Year Partnership, including through the development of the regional Cape York Partnership and significant changes to liquor canteen management. At the same time, little progress is being made in relation to proposals for regional autonomy in the Torres Strait and progress in addressing one of the headline commitments under the Ten Year Partnerships - halving Indigenous over-representation in corrections within the decade - is getting worse rather than better. Similarly, against the backdrop of the partnerships approach the Government has failed to enter into good faith negotiations with Indigenous people to settle a longstanding injustice in relation to the control of wages and savings under the protection acts over the past century.
In New South Wales, the Government has entered into a Justice Agreement committing it to reduce Indigenous over-representation in custody and to work in partnership with Indigenous communities to develop a Justice Plan to underpin criminal justice issues. It has also overseen the introduction and rapid development of circle sentencing. At the same time, Indigenous people continue to be the silent victims of election sloganeering aimed to prove who is toughest on crime. Amendments to bail provisions introduced during the past year, for example, are expected to have a significant negative impact on Indigenous people in the criminal justice system.
In Western Australia, rates of Indigenous over-representation in custody are steadily declining. This is likely to continue with proposed changes to laws removing sentences under 12 months duration. At the same time, mandatory sentencing remains and there has been little action to address serious concerns about the operation of juvenile diversionary schemes raised in the Social Justice Report 2001 and other reviews. Similar examples can be provided for each state and territory.
The one true highlight of the past year, however, has been the demonstration through a range of processes that Indigenous people are not going to sit back and wait for governments to solve the various problems faced in communities. Indigenous communities across the country are demonstrating that they are not passive victims but distinct peoples fighting hard for the survival and recognition of their cultural distinctiveness.
At two major conferences during the year on Indigenous governance and the treaty process, it became clear that Indigenous communities across the country know what they want and are working towards building their capacity and striking agreements with governments to implement it.
The highest profile of these is the partnerships approach in Cape York. Of equal importance and substance are the efforts of the ATSIC Murdi Paaki regional council, the Torres Strait Regional Authority, the Ali Curung community or the Mutitjulu community to name but four. There have been variable levels of success through these and other processes to date. Each process faces common barriers of building up local community expertise to be self-determining and getting agreement from governments at all levels to enter into partnerships with them and remove the controlling hand over their destinies.
When these developments are viewed alongside the growth of initiatives such as the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre, I end the year full of optimism that Indigenous people are slowly but surely moving towards achieving greater control over their life circumstances.
There are two main issues that run through this Report. The first is that it continually seeks to give meaning and content to the words and symbols used by the Government.
What, for example, should we make of the Government's rejection of the concept of a treaty when it is accompanied by a commitment to work in partnership and to make agreements with Indigenous peoples? What do we make of the Government's suggestion that the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation's proposals provide 'support' to the Government practical approach at the same time that they reject the majority of their recommendations? And what does a commitment to self-empowerment and self-management as the underlying basis of Indigenous policy formulation mean when it is offered as an alternative to the unacceptable principle of self-determination?
The Report continually seeks to establish whether the Government's preference for certain words and symbols is merely rhetorical and is consistent with the principles that they symbolically reject, or whether it in fact amounts to a substantive change of direction in Indigenous policy.
The second feature of the Report is that given the minimal framework for Indigenous policy being set by the federal Government, it deliberately seeks to place Indigenous issues within a broader context. It reports not only on what is happening at various levels of government, but on what is missing from the policy framework. In particular, the Report highlights the differences between self-determination and self-empowerment; practical reconciliation and progressive realisation and a rights framework for addressing Indigenous disadvantage; and by considering international developments in the recognition of Indigenous rights. Each demonstrates the severely constrained approach that has been adopted by the federal Government and hints at the potential in a broader, rights-based approach.
Chapter 2 of the Report - titled 'Self-determination: the freedom to live well' - examines the core principles which underpin the federal Government's approach to Indigenous affairs. Since 1998, the Government has openly rejected self-determination as the basis of policy formulation and preferred concepts of self-empowerment and self-management. This chapter provides an overview of international developments on Indigenous self-determination. It then compares this to the way the Government explains its policy approach in order to identify its limitations and considers options for addressing these.
Chapter 3 - 'National progress towards reconciliation in 2002 - an equitable partnership?' - then provides a progress report on reconciliation over the past twelve months. It notes developments at the inter-governmental level, the federal Government's responses to the documents of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and the Report of the Commonwealth Grants Commission, and the Government's agenda for reconciliation as set out in a number of speeches and processes. Ultimately it questions the basis on which the Government seeks to engage with Indigenous people, and the lack of equality in the partnerships that it seeks to enter.
Chapter 4 - 'Measuring Indigenous disadvantage' - then provides a detailed analysis of current approaches and research on addressing Indigenous disadvantage. It draws on significant international developments in countering poverty and economic marginalisation, as well as international human rights standards. The chapter also considers in depth the framework for measuring Indigenous disadvantage that is currently being instituted at the inter-governmental level. There are some clear contrasts between the limiting framework of practical reconciliation and the more focused and accountable approach based on international guidance and standards.
Chapter 5 - 'Indigenous women and the criminal justice system - A landscape of risk' - then follows up on an issue of great concern raised in the introduction of the Social Justice Report 2001. It focuses on Indigenous women and their experiences of contact with criminal justice processes. This chapter paints a disturbing picture of the lack of support provided to Indigenous women in many areas of society and its consequent impact through criminalisation. The lack of attention to these issues by policy makers to date is a matter of great shame. This review is preliminary by nature and will require further attention in coming years.
Chapter 6 - 'International developments in the recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples' - then places discussions of Indigenous policy within an international context. It notes the extensive developments in the recognition of Indigenous rights at the international level over the past thirty years. These are considered within two main contexts - the current review taking place within the United Nations of all the existing mechanisms at the UN dealing with Indigenous issues; and the International Decade for the World's Indigenous Peoples which is now in its final two years. This review illustrates how Australia has moved towards the most conservative end of the spectrum in addressing Indigenous rights, a factor which is reinforced in the domestic policy approach.
The Report then concludes with an appendix which summarises partnerships and agreements that have been entered into between Indigenous people and state or territory governments in recent years.
19 March 2003.
