FED: Praise and criticism for govt's new stance on indigenous charter

AAP General News (Australia)
04-03-2009
FED: Praise and criticism for govt's new stance on indigenous charter

EDS: Clarifies Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said support was about "resetting"

relationship with indigenous people



By Julian Drape and Tara Ravens

CANBERRA, April 3 AAP - The Rudd government has been both praised and condemned as
hypocritical for officially endorsing a United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous
people.

Senior indigenous leaders, including Australian of the Year Mick Dodson, said the government
had taken another significant step towards true reconciliation.

But others said the endorsement smacked of hypocrisy and would make little difference
to Aborigines while the intervention in indigenous Northern Territory communities continued.

The government on Friday made good on its election promise to endorse the UN Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, almost two years after the former Howard government
voted against it in the General Assembly.

Australia, the United States, New Zealand and Canada were the only countries to vote against it.

"Today, Australia changes its position," Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin
told politicians, dignitaries and Aboriginal leaders at Parliament House in Canberra.

"Today, Australia gives support to the declaration ... in the spirit of resetting the
relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

"Today, Australia takes another important step to make sure the flawed policies of
the past will never be revisited."

Professor Dodson said the endorsement was "another great thing, another special thing"

following Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's historic apology last year to the stolen generations.

"This (endorsement) is yet another important piece in the jigsaw that is closing gaps
and healing the relationship," the Aboriginal academic and leader said.

Similarly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner Tom Calma
said Ms Macklin's statement was a "watershed moment".

"I congratulate the Australian government for the giant step it is taking today in
embracing the fundamental guiding principles of mutual respect and partnership outlined
in the declaration," Mr Calma said.

But others held an entirely different perspective.

Anti-intervention activist Barbara Shaw, from the Mt Nancy Town Camp in Alice Springs,
accused the government of "absolute hypocrisy".

The federal intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities contravened the
declaration, she said.

"The Racial Discrimination Act remains suspended and Aboriginal communities remain
under the control of an explicitly racist government," she said.

Monique Wiseman, from Stop The Intervention Collective, said endorsing the declaration
would not translate into meaningful change on the ground.

"Signing the UN declaration is nothing less than a tokenistic gesture like the apology was."

Ms Macklin said the government was planning to introduce legislation to lift the suspension
of the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory.

The legislation is due to be introduced in the spring session of parliament, but the
Australian Greens said that wasn't soon enough.

"The blatantly discriminatory suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern
Territory intervention must be reversed as a matter of priority," indigenous affairs spokeswoman
Rachel Siewert said.

"The real test is whether they now make their policies consistent with the declaration."

The former Howard government voted against the declaration in 2007 on the grounds it
would elevate customary law above Australian law.

Last week, opposition legal affairs spokesman George Brandis maintained the document
was "deeply flawed".

But Megan Davis, director of the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of NSW, said
the coalition was seriously misguided because the declaration was not legally binding.

While welcoming the change of position, Ms Davis was somewhat suspicious of the government's
true motives.

She suggested the move was aimed at garnering support for Australia's bid for a temporary
seat on the UN Security Council.

"They're getting their human rights house in order," Ms Davis said.

The declaration contains 46 articles which outline rights of an estimated 370 million
indigenous people around the world in terms of international law, but it is not legally
binding and cannot override domestic law.

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