Howard’s ‘Reconciliation’ Slammed by NT Aboriginal Women

It must be a matter of days or even hours now before Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard calls an election.

Some of us have been waiting for it for years.

Years of John Howard’s neglect of the causes and conditions for poverty, tragedy and despair in the lives and environments of many Indigenous Australians.

Years of John Howard dismantling the channels of advice and information that served both Indigenous Australian communication and communication to Government and the wider Australian people.

Years when John Howard wouldn’t acknowledge the part that history played in the present conditions of Indigenous Australians; when John Howard denied history, promoted history wars, sought to extinguish Native Title, ridiculed reconciliation, and absolutely refused to apologise to Indigenous Australians on behalf of this Nation.

Yet now, at two minutes to calling an election, John Howard has suddenly developed a new perspective on Indigenous issues. (See PDF of his speech at Sydney Institute for more.)

In eleven years as Prime Minister, and through thirty-odd years in parliament, John Howard has railed against acknowledgement of the ongoing destructive impacts on the original people of this land. He has railed against it (’black armband view of history’), denied it (’history wars’), legislated against it (’bucketloads of extinguishment’), dismantled and silenced it (ATSIC), applauded opposition to it (Pauline Hanson’s One Nation), and battled it (’NT intervention’ carried out by Australian Defence Forces).

Now, he changes his mind.

I don’t believe him. And, I am not alone …

Howard’s ‘Reconciliation’ Slammed by NT Aboriginal Women
A Media Release from Women for Wik

Friday, 12 October 2007

Aboriginal women who have come to Sydney and Canberra to speak at Public Forums on the Federal Intervention in the Northern Territory are sceptical of the Prime Minister’s statement that he seeks reconciliation with Indigenous Australians.

‘The statement by the Prime Minister is intellectually incoherent and inconsistent with his past practices’, said Olga Havnen, CEO of the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory. ‘This Prime Minister does not have the credibility — or the trust of the Australian people — to lead a genuine process of reconciliation.’

‘This is too little, too late. This statement is completely at odds with the Prime Minister’s interactions with Aboriginal people over the past 11 years. It is appalling for him to now acknowledge the past mistreatment of Aboriginal peoples when his government has passed NT Emergency legislation that over-rides the rights and entitlements of Aboriginal people as citizens of this nation’, said Ms Havnen.

‘This statement is the death rattle of a dying government. He is clutching at straws to stay in power. The Prime Minister has been making statements like this since 1998, but what has he done in this time?’ said Ms Eileen Cummings, Former Policy Advisor to the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.

‘In 1999 he said that he wanted to honour Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders for their “deep kinship with their lands, and for their ancient and continuing cultures”.’ Ms Eileen Cummings said, ‘However, his actions have attacked Aboriginal culture, Aboriginal relationships to land, and the integrity of Aboriginal families. And unlike hundreds of thousands of Australians he refused say ’sorry’ or to march for reconciliation.’

These Aboriginal women from the Northern Territory will be speaking in Public Forums on the weekend in Canberra and Sydney.

‘The Federal intervention in the Northern Territory is causing enormous confusion, bewilderment and worry for Aboriginal people. They are searching for answers — and these answers are not going to come from John Howard.’ said Raelene Rosas, one of the organisers of the grassroots campaign, Women for Wik — Monitoring the Federal Action in the Northern Terrritory. ‘Aboriginal people don’t trust the Prime Minister, or the Indigenous Affairs Minister, Mal Brough. How can this government lead the country into reconciliation?’

‘If the Prime Minister is genuine in his commitment to reconciliation he must amend immediately the NT Emergency Response legislation and the Native Title Act to remove the racially discrimination elements of these acts and to restore the integrity of the Racial Discrimination Act’, said Ms Havnen.

‘While Howard has professed his commitment to “practical” reconciliation to improve the socio-economic well being of Indigenous Australians, he has failed miserably by any socio-economic measure.’ Ms Havnen said. ‘The gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians has continued to widen under the period of his leadership. What we need is genuine engagement to address not only the symbolic and the practical, but also to find accommodation about our legal and political status as first peoples.’

Public forums
Canberra: 2–3pm, Saturday, 13th October, as part of ANTaR meeting, National Museum of Australia
Sydney: 2–4pm, Sunday, 14th October, Australia Hall, 150 Elizabeth Street, Sydney.

Contact
Associate Professor Claire Smith (President, World Archaeological Congress)
Email: claire.smith at flinders.edu.au

Websites
www.womenforwik.org
www.antar.org.au (for full ANTaR program on Saturday)

Related [accessed online 12 October 2007]

ATSIC

ATSIC site archive

The World Today, 2007, ATSIC not to blame for Indigenous disadvantage, ABC Radio National. Transcript of radio program, broadcast: 1 June 2007, reporter: Paula Kruger.

‘Black armband history’ and ‘history wars’

ANTaR Queensland, 2003, Black armband history, ANTaR News.

Lateline, 2003, Authors in history debate, ABC TV. Transcript of television program, broadcast: 3 September 2003.

Mann, R. 2006, The cruelty of denial, The Age, 9 September.

McKenna, M. 1997, Different Perspectives on Black Armband History, Research Paper 5 1997–98, Australian Parliamentary Library.

‘Bucketloads of extinguishment’

HREOC, 1999, Acting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Native Title Report 1999, Australian Indigenous Law Reporter, 2000 5(1).

Life Matters, 1997, The 10-Point Wik Plan Explained, ABC Radio National. Transcript of radio program, broadcast: 20 November 1997.

Longstaff, S. 1997, Native Title, St James Ethics Centre.

MacIntyre, G. 1999, Native Title and the Certainty Created by Racial Discrimination, University of New South Wales Law Journal 1999 22(2).

Yunkaporta, T. 2006, Australia On UN’s Black List: Australian Racism And Human Rights Abuses Of Aborigines Condemned, 13 May, Suite 101.

Yunkaporta, T. 2006, Land Rights Australia: Extinguishment of Native Title and ongoing Attacks on Aboriginal Land Rights, 15 June, Suite 101.

‘NT intervention’

ABC News, 2007, NT Intervention ‘too political’ for military, 1 October.

Jopson, D. 2007, Wik women sign up for a new battle in Territory, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 September.

Women For Wik

Pauline Hanson

Hanson, P. 1998, Pauline Hanson’s Address to Parliament on the MAI. Delivered in Federal Parliament, 2 June 1998. Published on Australian Politics.com.

Steketee, M, 2006, Pauline Hanson’s Legacy, The Australian, 8 September.

And more

News.com.au, 2007, Culture in Crisis.

GetUp! Blogs, 2007, Indigenous leaders respond to PM’s referendum plan, 12 October.

GetUp! Campaign Actions, 2007, The First Act Is Saying Sorry (petition).