Black leaders torpedo PM's reconciliation plans
Source: AAP | Published: Wednesday September 15 5:14:23 PM
Prime Minister John Howard's goal of achieving an historic
reconciliation agreement by the centenary of federation
was effectively torpedoed today by a summit of indigenous leaders.
The summit of 60 national leaders, convened by the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC),
agreed it was impossible to reach a substantial reconciliation agreement
this century.
And they want a final document to include a statement of indigenous
rights.
The verdict comes as a draft reconciliation agreement, the result of 10
years' work by the Council for Aboriginal
Reconciliation (CAR), is touring Australia in its final consultation
phase.
The government plans for the final draft to be launched with fanfare in
Sydney in May next year and be approved
by parliament to become a centrepiece of centenary of federation
celebrations in January 2001.
But CAR chairwoman Evelyn Scott, a member of the summit, today conceded
the document was too weak on
indigenous rights.
"That's what we're getting from out there in the community; that it
needs to be strengthened on indigenous rights,"
Ms Scott told journalists.
"By the time 2001 comes, I don't believe that we will have achieved what
we set out to achieve."
The summit, called the Focus 2000 and Beyond Forum, wants the statement
of rights - centred on indigenous
self-determination - the reconciliation document and other agreements
yet to be negotiated between indigenous
leaders and the government enshrined in law.
Former ATSIC chairwoman Lowitja O'Donoghue said indigenous rights had to
be law to prevent any repeat of the
policies that separated her from her family as a child.
"We are worried about going down the path of assimilation and that's why
we would want those things at the end of
this process of reconciliation enshrined in legislation," she said.
She questioned whether the prime minister's timetable was designed to
have the reconciliation agreement reached
before the world focuses on the Sydney Olympic Games.
"We don't want to be brought kicking and screaming because the
non-Aboriginal community are ready for this and
we're not," she said.
The government is unlikely to accept the new indigenous demands, with Mr
Howard and his reconciliation minister
Philip Ruddock having already indicated the current draft document
already goes too far.
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