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Launch of Social Justice and Native Title Reports 2008

Tom Calma
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner
Australian Human Rights Commission

Turner Hall, Ultimo NSW

4 May 2009

Audio of Speech in mp3 format [20.5 MB]

I begin by paying my respects to the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, the traditional owners of the land where we gather today. pay my respects to your elders, to the ancestors and to those who have come before us. And thank you, Allen Madden, for your generous welcome to country for all of us.

Thank you to everyone for attending the launch of the latest Social Justice Report and Native Title Report. These reports were tabled out of session of the federal Parliament on the 30th April 2009.

These are the fifth set of reports I have completed, and possibly my last as my current term as Social Justice Commissioner comes to an end in July. So can I take this opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of all of my staff and collaborators who have assisted me in the preparation of these significant reports over the past five years. Thank you.

Thank you Cathy Branson, our President at the Australian Human Rights Commission for your introduction.

Thank you to John Boersig as representative of the Attorney General, the Hon Robert McClelland, for your remarks and presence. I understand that the Attorney has had to attend a Cabinet meeting and so hasn’t been able to attend today. But the willingness of the government to participate in this launch is indicative of a new partnership and a new agenda for Indigenous Australians and the Australian government.

And that brings me to the topic today: new partnerships, a new agenda.

We have seen some pretty momentous events in Indigenous affairs over the past year or so. Just a month ago on 3 April, the Australian Government formally gave its support for the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I’ve described this as a watershed moment in Australian history and I am hopeful that it will guide better rights based engagement with Indigenous Australians.

On 13 February last year we witnessed the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. This will go down as one of those ‘where were you’ moments in Australia history. It still brings a shiver down my spine to recollect the power of those few words.

We can’t ignore the significant strides towards achieving Indigenous health equality with governments commitments through the Close the Gap campaign. And of course, the exciting and dynamic process that is currently underway as we work towards a model for a National Indigenous Representative Body by July this year.

Related to all of this, Indigenous Australians have also been active in the Australian Government’s human rights consultation led by Father Frank Brennan around the country at the moment.

These developments are all part of laying the foundations for a new partnership, with a new agenda. They fill me with optimism for the future.

Optimism inspires people to believe that a better future is possible. It is the antidote to complacency - it motivates people to get passionate and call for change.

This spirit of optimism is reflected in this year’s Social Justice and Native Title Reports as well. The Social Justice Report argues strongly for a better deal in rights protection for Indigenous Australians, a decent standard of education for our remote students, comprehensive support for healing to move beyond the Apology and urges sustained action to keep the Close the Gap campaign on track.

The Native Title Report looks at positive, practical changes that could be made to the native title system in light of the ever present issues of connection and continuity; the extinguishment of native title rights and interests; and the looming threat of compulsory acquisition of Indigenous lands. The Native Title report also tackles the topical issues of climate change and water rights for Indigenous people. Kevin Smith will join us on the panel to discuss these issues in more detail.

Optimism has been part of the last 12 months but so too have fear and uncertainty as the global financial crisis has wreaked havoc around the world. The IMF just recently announced that six trillion dollars has simply vanished in the past 12 months. Although this amount of money seems unreal to most us, it will have real consequences. There will certainly be more job losses, constrained government spending on services and things will get harder for everyday Australians.

It is not boom time anymore. It would be naïve to think that it won’t be more difficult to secure funding and government support for our Indigenous issues when we are competing with a growing dole queue in this country.

And that old chestnut will come up again in some section of the media and community - human rights are well and good when you can afford them but in times of hardship they are a luxury we can’t afford.

So despite the initial optimism, this is also a challenging but crucial time to get our messages about Indigenous human rights priorities across.

But I think the key to making our voices heard is to show the human face of the human rights we advocate for. Let me share some examples from the Social Justice Report.
Human rights are not the exclusive domain of lawyers or institutions like the United Nations, or indeed even the Australian Human Rights Commission. They affect everyone, everywhere, everyday.

Yet we have very minimal levels of rights protection in this country - and this is especially true for Indigenous Australians. Professor Larissa Behrendt will be on the panel also to explore this further.

We see the human face of this lack of rights protection when we look at the entrenched disadvantage that Indigenous Australian experience. We all know about the 17 year life expectancy gap, a product of poverty and disadvantage.

Let’s break it down a bit - the life expectancy for Indigenous men is only 59 years. Maybe there are some people in this room getting towards that age, maybe there are people in this rooms whose parents are getting towards that age. Regardless, this inequality is a real human rights issue.

In the Social Justice Report I call for a six point plan to better protect rights:

There are a lot of well thought out legal reasons in the report. There are also compelling human reasons.

For instance, when people ask me to give them one reason why the current rights protections are not sufficient, I remind them that the common law could not prevent the forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families and it has since offered very little to redress the hurt of those who were stolen.

And we must do everything we can to prevent the repeat of another Stolen Generation - we are still dealing with so much of the hurt and trauma today as it reverberates across the generations, creating destructive cycles of violence, abuse and despair.

You only need to listen to the harrowing stories of the Stolen Generations members, the stories of Indigenous women escaping violence, the stories of Indigenous people in custody who know about the thin line between victim and perpetrator; and the Indigenous children who carry the burden of all of these stories, to know that we urgently need healing.

And there are some wonderful examples of healing programs that really work. But they are often ad hoc and poorly funded. What is needed is consistent, long term support for the Stolen Generations, their families and communities.

For this reason I’ve called for a national independent, Indigenous controlled healing body that is responsible for developing and implementing a national Indigenous healing framework.

I have welcomed the government’s commitment to establishing a healing foundation, with the process led by May O’Brien and Gregory Phillips. Greg is here with us today. However, I’d just add a note of caution - action should not be at the expense of proper consultation. This is too important an issue to rush in and then get wrong through lack of real community engagement.

Remote education is also something we can’t afford to get wrong anymore either. I think a lot of Australians would be shocked to know that many Indigenous kids living in remote areas only have a teacher come out to teach them three days a fortnight. They would be even further shocked to know that these children are being educated in tin sheds with dirt floors.

Not exactly the same picture as if I walked 10 minutes down the road to Ultimo Public School, or indeed if I asked you in this room to describe the school your child attends.

Yet all of these children have the same right to education.

When we look at the conditions in remote areas it is no wonder these children are lagging behind. Mick Dodson, Australian of the year, called for every child in Australia to be in the classroom by next year. Like calling for Indigenous health equality in a generation, this too is an ambitious but I think admirable task if we take the right approach.

The Social Justice Report shows a way forward. We need to get away from the educational fads that seem to dominate Indigenous education and the polarizing arguments about whether remote children should be educated in their communities or in boarding schools.

On that contentious point, I think we need to be unequivocal - it is not possible or practical to move all remote students to urban centres - quality education must move to them.

Locally based education is also an important way to show younger kids in the community that they can achieve a higher standard of education, because “you cannot be - what you cannot see” – and that is the legacy of sending kids off to boarding school. My old friends Mandawuy and Yalmay Yunupingu will join us also on the panel.

But even the most whizz bang, evidence based educational program is not going to work unless we have a foundation of community engagement and partnership.

And there is that word again - partnership. The reason I keep returning to partnerships is because they work. The Social Justice Report looks at some amazing successes that have grown out of strong community and school partnerships.

Let me tell you about Garrthalala. This is a school in remote Arnhem land, so remote that it was only connected to mains power last year. Up until 2006 the secondary students had no classroom and very limited access to resources like the internet. Yet despite this, last year seven of the local students graduated from secondary school at year 12 level without having to leave their communities. And according to the teachers, it was the strength of the community support and partnership that made this possible.

Partnerships have also been the cornerstone in the Close the Gap Campaign on Indigenous health equality. Firstly, in 2006 a diverse group of Indigenous and non Indigenous health peak bodies and human rights advocates initiated the campaign with me. The Australian Government and the Opposition embraced our objectives, signing a bipartisan Statement of Intent to close the life expectancy gap by 2030 and provide the necessary primary health care to meet the goal by 2018.

The hard work continues but I’m happy to report that important steps have taken place like:

The next step is to develop a comprehensive, long term, resourced national action plan to achieve our goals - and to do it in genuine partnership with Indigenous people. Dr Ngi Brown, an inaugural member of the Close the Gap Steering Committee is also on our panel.

Let me turn back to the big picture for a moment. As I said, the last 12 months have been characterised by optimism but also uncertainty and fear. The uncertainty and fear have not just been because of the global economic crisis. We have a new spectre looming - climate change. Indigenous people’s access to water resources will also be significantly affected by climate change. These two issues are of growing concern for Indigenous peoples’ internationally.

Australia is waking up from a decade of denial about climate change. According to all the experts, Australia will be hard hit by climate change and no one more so than Indigenous people.

As coastal and island communities confront rising sea levels, and inland areas become hotter and drier, Indigenous people are at risk of further economic marginalisation, as well as potential dislocation from, and exploitation of their traditional lands, waters and natural resources.

And the cruel irony is that Indigenous people have the smallest ecological footprint but are being asked to carry the heaviest burden of climate change.

One community carrying an immense burden are Torres Strait Islanders. One of the most beautiful places in Australia; it is also one of the most threatened. Torres Strait Islanders are already noting visible changes including unprecedented erosion, stronger winds, land accretion, increasing storm frequency, rougher seas and decreasing flora and fauna like turtles and dugongs.

The predicted rise in temperatures, sea levels and extreme weather conditions will potentially affect every aspect of life for Torres Strait Islanders. For instance we expect to see:

These things will profoundly affect the ability of these communities to enjoy many of the basic rights that other Australians take for granted, such as the right to life, health, food, water, culture and a healthy environment.

There is a real possibility that some communities will need to move to higher ground or relocate altogether to the mainland. For such a proud people with strong connections to their land - and don’t forget it was Eddie Mabo from Mer Island who first won recognition of native title - it is a sad prospect.

If Indigenous people are going to be hard hit by climate change it is only right that they have a seat at the table when it comes to working out climate change policy and planning. This has not been happening to date and needs to urgently change.

For this reason, I call on the government to adopt a human rights based approach that actively engages Indigenous people at every level of climate change planning and management.

Indigenous people looked after the land for many thousands of years. They have a traditional knowledge and proven land management and conservation practices, underpinned by a deep connection and respect for the land. Now it is again time for Indigenous people to have a central role in caring for this country.

Indigenous people will be part of the solution to climate change. Reducing greenhouse gases and carbon abatement will rely heavily on Indigenous lands and waters.

To turn away from fear and uncertainty to the optimism of our times; climate change can present opportunities for Indigenous communities. Programs like Caring for Country and national park joint management partnership arrangements across Australia are a win-win for communities and the environment.

The Murray-Darling Basin is another hotspot under immediate threat from the impacts of climate change and access to water but also a place where partnerships are being forged. The Native Title Report looks at the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations, where the 10 traditional owner groups in the lower southern part of the Murray Darling Basin provide an Indigenous voice on water matters.

They have provided substantial input into state and federal government agencies and have developed Memorandums of Understanding with government agencies around natural resource management. They are integral to promoting the health of the river and the communities that depend on the river. But they need to be listened to and respected more than they currently are though. Steven Ross from the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations is with us today to discuss this further.

It is fitting that I finish on those examples of environmental partnerships because they show how intertwined the fates of Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians are. We share one country and we need to work together if we are going to manage climate change.

Equally, we share one humanity and we need to work together to achieve better human rights protection, a decent standard of education for all children, healing for Stolen Generations, and health equality just to name a few.

I don’t doubt there are tough times and immense challenges ahead but I am optimistic about the future and passionate about calling for and working towards change.

We can only be stronger as a nation if we work together to create new partnerships and a new agenda for Indigenous Australia.

Remember, partnership brings respect, and from respect comes dignity, and from dignity comes hope.

Thank you