When Pauline Hanson raised the spectre of Nunavut type claims of indigenous independence claims in Australia Prime Minister John Howard stated that she was "out of her tree", mad, or words to that affect.
Maybe Howard's shallow facade as a political
leader is now coming home to roost.
Torres Strait Islander leaders will today press
Queensland State Premier Peter Beattie for "autonomy" - with self
government along the lines of Norfolk Island.
A proposal is to be submitted for the
establishment of a Torres Strait Regional Assembly 2001 - giving the region
territory status - the fragmenting of Australia on racial lines will have begun.
The chairman of the "Autonomy
Taskforce" John Abendigo met with Howard last week to bring the PM up to
date on the proposals. Yesterday a spokesman for Howard's office said that the
Coalition had made an election commitment to grant autonomy to the Torres Strait
Region. "And the government is continuing dialogue to that end", he
said.
Mr Abendigo said yesterday, "This does not
mean that we break away from Australia - we're still part of Australia because
we want to remain part of Australia."
"This is our first meeting with the Premier
since he came into office, so we're going to use this meeting to gauge his
support.
"At the autonomy meeting we had a good
representation of a cross-section of people living in the region and it was
apparent that there is support for the concept of autonomy right across the
Torres Strait."
What appears to be lost to everybody involved in
this debate is the following:
Torres Strait is most vulnerable to Indonesia
aggression - and a useful foothold into Australia.
Australians would be footing their bills - thus
the comment "we want to remain part of Australia".
