Make Indigenous Poverty History Goal 8: Develop a National Partnership for Development

Target 13: Give Indigenous people the control over managing their own affairs

• Indicator 34:  Re - establish an elected representative body.
  
  
• Indicator 35:  Monitor the impact of Shared Responsibility Agreements
  
  
• Indicator 36: Truth in funding – provide adequate funding for proper implementation of programs.

Target 14:  Ensure that the wrongs of the past are acknowledged

• Indicator 37: The Federal Government says Sorry to the Stolen Generation and pays reparations. 
  
  
• Indicator 38: A Treaty is established
  
  
• Indicator 39: Reparations for Stolen Wages are made in full.

Goal 8 of the MDGs talks about the engagement between the poor and the richer nations. It provides the parameters for better co-operation between those in need and those who have resources. Many of the targets and indicators are about Overseas Development Aid.

Here in Australia, there are several issues that have a huge impact on the ability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to live their life free from poverty. Therefore we believe that Goal 8 should be about those issues where better engagement and cooperation will contribute to Indigenous development, whilst reinvigorating culture. 

PROPER REPRESENTATION

ATSIC was established by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act and began operations on 5 March 1990 as a means to involve Indigenous people in the processes of government affecting their lives.

ATSIC consisted of:

• an elected arm of Indigenous representatives, consisting of 35 Regional Councils around Australia and a national Board of Commissioners led by an elected Chairperson and
• an administration headed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The Government abolished ATSIC in June 2005 leaving a vacuum of indigenous representation.

In its place the Government has established:

The National Indigenous Council

The NIC will, in the words of the Minister “provide expert advice to the Australian Government on policy, program and service-delivery issues affecting Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders”  (http://www.atsia.gov.au/media/media04/v04064.htm). The NIC is appointed by the Government and is not a representative or an elected body. 

Regional Partnership Agreements (RPAs)

Regional Partnership Agreements provide a mechanism for guiding a coherent government intervention strategy across a region, eliminating overlaps or gaps, and promoting coordination to meet identified priorities for the region. Where States and Territories have agreed, RPAs may also incorporate State and Territory investment, reflecting the ‘National Framework of Principles for Government Service Delivery to Indigenous Australians’ agreed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in June 2004.  http://www.oipc.gov.au/About_OIPC/new_arrangements/IndigenousRepresentation.asp

Shared Responsibility Agreements (SRAs)

Shared Responsibility Agreements (SRAs) are more detailed documents operating at a family or community level. SRAs will set out clearly what the family, community and government is responsible for contributing to a particular activity, what outcomes are to be achieved, and the agreed milestones to measure progress. Under the new approach, groups will need to offer commitments and undertake changes that benefit the community in return for government funding. http://www.oipc.gov.au/About_OIPC/new_arrangements/IndigenousRepresentation.asp

FUNDING

There are many myths put out about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia. One of them is that they get far more money than other citizens of Australia gets; that there is an “aboriginal industry” which sucks in huge amounts of tax payer’s money. Therefore it is the fault of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples that their situation does not improve.

This is not substantiated and this argument is usually used in political debates to sway public opinion and to muddy the waters about the true situation about our Indigenous peoples. 

For example it is often said that we spend a lot of money on health. This is not true.

Non – Indigenous people have more spent on them by the Commonwealth than indigenous Australians.

For example:

• In 1998 / 99 it was estimated that for every $1.00 spent per person for the general population on MBS and PBS, only $0.37 was spent per Indigenous person. 
• Commonwealth spending on indigenous people through programs it administers is about 18 % less than for non – Indigenous people (www.hollows.org).

NATSIEC is concerned that with the abolition of ATSIC and the mainstreaming of Government programs it will be even harder for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to access appropriate funds and resources. We therefore must ensure that funding for Indigenous Peoples is not only adequate and accessible, but is represented honestly.

TREATY

A treaty between Indigenous peoples and Australia could have recognized and protected Indigenous rights and led to a just constitutional basis for the Australian Federation.

Instead, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were completely overlooked as relevant parties in the formation of the Australian Federation. A treaty may result in:

• recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of Australia and of the distinct rights which flow from this;
• agreement to the necessary reforms for a more just society
• The setting of national standards to inform local or regional treaties and agreements.

Establishing a Treaty could help with unresolved issues of reconciliation.

STOLEN WAGES

For decades governments throughout Australia literally stole or misappropriated the money of Aboriginal people who were under their care and protection. The sums run to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The monies stolen include wages earned for forced or indentured labour, or other monies due to Indigenous people such as child endowment payments.

This was possible because governments directly controlled Aboriginal wages and entitlements. (www.antar.org.au)

The wealth of this country has been built on the back of the labour of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. There are campaigns to return these wages to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and their descendents.

THE STOLEN GENERATIONS

On 26 May, 1997, the Bringing Them Home report, tabled in the Federal Parliament detailed painful evidence of the removal of thousands of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children from their families. It brought to the attention of mainstream Australia what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples had known for decades that their children had been forcibly removed from their families. That families right around Australia had been torn apart due to government policies and that it wasn’t something that happened in the dim past, it was a very current issue and the suffering that it caused is still having a deep impact on communities and individuals all over Australia.

The report recommended that a 'Sorry Day’ be held. A year later over half a million people responded, signing Sorry Books and taking part in ceremonies on Sorry Day. To date individuals, councils, State Governments and even organisations have said Sorry. But to date the Federal Government led by John Howard refuses to.

Until we as a Nation recognise the hurt and trauma that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have suffered since the beginning of colonisation we can not heal as a nation and be reconciled. Until we accept responsibility and acknowledge the facts of the Stolen Generations Australia will always be a fractured country. 

RESOURCES

New arrangements in Indigenous Affairs
http://www.oipc.gov.au/About_OIPC/new_arrangements/FivePrinciples.asp
http://www.oipc.gov.au/About_OIPC/new_arrangements/IndigenousRepresentation.asp

Stolen Wages
http://antar.dovenetq.net.au/05_involved/action.html
http://www.antar.org.au/sw_nsw.html

Stolen Generations
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~rez/Journey/

Click here to go to Education Kit - Worksheet 8

Click here to go to Prayer sheet - MDG 8

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