Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery - Beyond ATSIC

By asking me to address where we’re at now in Australia in the “Beyond ATSIC” phase, and to concentrate on democracy and governance, I’m going to take it for granted that I’ve also been asked to speak about reconciliation and about community development in general, two topics which are very closely interconnected. There are some great examples of what is happening in Australia – examples that provide important lessons for the people putting the new national Indigenous affairs structures in place. But before I get on to that, let me start by acknowledging the important role of organisations like ACOSS to reconciliation. For the reconciliation process to be successful, it must have the involvement and commitment of communities across Australia. The movement must recognise that while Australians from many different backgrounds suffer disadvantage, that disadvantage differs depending on people’s circumstances and histories. It’s all very well to speak of the “ladder of opportunity” but for too many Indigenous Australians, the first rung of that ladder is way out of reach. ACOSS provides the research and the conviction required to demonstrate what governments and others need to do to meet the differing needs of needy sections of the population. ACOSS speaks and people listen. And the Council’s work – your work – goes beyond words and theories to involve communities in positive action. And that’s what it takes to build one, cohesive, healthy community. That’s what you have to do if there are problems in the community. There’s no value in blaming others or looking for outside solutions. You have to get stuck in and do it together. Which brings me back to where we find ourselves today – post ATSIC and with the return of the Howard Government. The decisive result on October 9 provides an historic opportunity for Mr Howard and the Government to implement its policies and programs. Politicians on both sides were criticized during the campaign for not speaking out more about Indigenous affairs but our view at Reconciliation Australia is that that may have been for the good. It is hard to imagine that anything very positive would have come from debating these complex issues in that divisive context. It would also be a mistake for supporters of reconciliation to use the re-election of John Howard as an excuse to keep whingeing about what’s not possible rather than doing something worthwhile and meaningful within the context in which we find ourselves. The good news is there is a surprising amount of common ground about the way forward. It’s easy to think of Indigenous affairs in terms of law and order, stopping substance abuse and ending welfare dependency. These are important issues but none of them offers complete or long term answers. So the fact that governments across Australia have found common ground on some really gutsy new stuff suggests there is a way forward and that democracy and good governance are at the heart of it. The Prime Minister spoke of the essence of this new approach in an interview on the ABC’s Lateline program during the campaign when he said: “...when you listen to the remarks of people like Noel Pearson and you hear their solutions in areas such as the Cape, you begin to understand that if communities are given the power to run their own affairs and to impose their own internal disciplines you will, over time, see an enormous improvement. We ought to be listening a lot more to those who believe that self responsibility and personal empowerment in Aboriginal communities and the end of the welfare mentality are essential before we bring about a profound change for the better.” This new, broadly accepted direction in Indigenous affairs is based on two fundamentals: better coordination in the INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS