Speech by Professor Lowitja O'Donoghue.
Adelaide Launch of the Social Justice Report 2001 and the Native Title Report 2001.
Tandanya 19th July 2002.
I am delighted to be here and to be part of the official launch of the
two reports: The 2001 Social Justice Report and the 2001 Native Title
Report.
Both are written by Dr William Jonas, who is here today. As you would know he is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.
They are both excellent documents and they lay out in very clear terms where we are up to in this country in terms of the human rights and needs of Indigenous peoples.
I congratulate Dr Jonas for the sharp clarity of both of these reports and for the logical recommendations that arise from them.
Both reports are significant because they provide:
- reliable information
about the current state of affairs
- insights about
trends and patterns
- identification
of key issues, and
- clear direction for action.
In short, there is absolutely no excuse for anyone to be ill informed about the conditions that Indigenous people face in this country - or what needs to be done about it.
It is the responsibility of political leaders to act on the best information available to them.
And, in reports such as these, they have the very best information available at their finger-tips.
And so, the most pressing question for me - and for all of us is:
Why then, do they fail - and continually fail to act appropriately?
Year after year, clinching evidence is provided that demonstrates the appalling profiles of Indigenous health and well being.
Year after year, we paint the grim picture of what is happening (or not happening) to our people - and have to face the shameful fact that little has changed since the last report.
In fact, in some instances, we have gone backwards.
This pattern has become so entrenched in our country that many citizens have come to regard it as inevitable. People think and say things like:
- It has all become
just too hard to rectify or improve things.
- Or, the lack
of progress is the fault of Indigenous people themselves.
- Or, they hear us talk of the problems and begin to feel that they've heard it all before… that somehow we should "get over it".
The point is of course, that we cannot "get over it" without a strong and coherent strategy that works on all levels towards change.
There are many terrific groups and individuals working hard within their contexts to make a difference - they are the unsung heroes, working away at the grass roots.
And we could not survive without them.
But we also need political leadership that understands and enacts its human rights obligations. And this is exactly what we lack in the current Federal Government.
John Howard's and Phillip Ruddock's position is one of deliberate denial and arrogance in relation to these matters.
The lack of progress in Native Title outcomes is directly related to the legal structures binding and strangling the process.
The unfairness of these structures has been made absolutely clear to the Government - through the tireless efforts of Dr Jonas and others.
And not only within Australia.
There has also been formal and urgent concern expressed by several Committees of the United Nations, which have clearly identified discriminatory practices and breaches of human rights in Australia.
Fundamentally, the current government opposes the idea of inherent Indigenous rights.
Rights that come from
- being the original
owners and custodians of the lands and waters
- customary laws,
beliefs and traditions
- a spiritual relationship between the land and its peoples.
Reconciliation will never be achieved until these issues and their central
connection to land rights are recognized.
No amount of rhetoric about "practical reconciliation" can get around this basic impediment.
We are not talking here about issues that can be addressed superficially.
Rather, we are talking about issues that probe the very meaning of terms such as justice, equality and human rights.
And to understand them we have to look at them in context.
For Indigenous people this means taking account of our history.
Two hundred years since white settlement, represents only three generations of people - it is a mere heartbeat in the context of historical time.
And during this time our people have experienced brutality, destruction, dispersal and exclusion - and unfortunately all of this was sanctioned by official policies of the time.
Given these formal sanctions, it is perhaps not surprising that prevailing social attitudes have also cast Indigenous people as less than human.
We have been regarded as a problem, rather than as a people feeling all the human needs for rights and respect.
Before 1967 for instance (and now we are talking very recent history), many Indigenous people were excluded from mainstream services and structures. They did not enjoy the rights that other citizens took for granted.
And so there is a whole legacy of inequality in areas such as health, housing and education.
There is inter-generational poverty, which is linked to a history of marginalisation from economic life and infrastructure.
There are high numbers of Indigenous people living in remote and rural areas where there are added problems of access to services and support.
And, if you think about it for a moment.
If you set out with the intention of creating trauma within a certain group of people, I cannot think of a more successful recipe than to:
- Make sure that
they are not thought of or treated as human beings
- Brutalise them
- Tear their communities
apart and remove many of their children without explanation
- Make sure that
they cannot access the means to regain a sense of control and purpose
- Ensure that they
lead economically impoverished lives
- Create ghettos
for them and make sure they live in them
- Expose them to
frequent racism
- And then, blame them for the circumstances in which they find themselves.
I think we could all predict the dire social consequences that would follow. There will be a whole range of serious problems such as:
- Significant health
problems - both mental and physical
- Ongoing chronic
problems such as depression
- Unemployment
- Substance misuse
- Violence, including
domestic violence
- Reckless behaviour
- High levels of
incarceration in prisons and correctional facilities
- Low self esteem
- Endemic poverty
- Under achievement.
These issues are all reflected in the 2001 Social Justice Report.
In addressing these problems there is the clear need to look at underlying causes if we are to devise credible solutions.
It is not difficult to see that they are all interconnected.
And as Dr Jonas has pointed out in the report, they represent circumstances that would simply not be tolerated if they applied to the non-Indigenous community.
As he says, and I quote:
Ten years on we
should not be facing a situation where rates of over representation (in
custody) have worsened like this and where deaths in custody have not
been significantly reduced.
[Unquote]
I agree with him entirely, and I am particularly concerned at the rise in the imprisonment rates of Indigenous women in the decade since the Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody.
The Social Justice Report documents that the rate has almost doubled between 1991 and 1999.
And at the end of June 2001, the rate of incarceration was almost 30 times the rate of their non-Indigenous counterparts. (Despite the fact that they represent such a tiny proportion of the population overall).
The implications of this are enormous and involve not only questions about alternatives to custody, and relationships with the police force.
But also, questions about what life circumstances are causing this increase and what is happening to the families of the women concerned.
The Government prides itself on notions of accountability.
This is continually reflected in its language about "the bottom line" and in policies that are supposed to reflect the concept of "mutual obligation".
The idea of mutual obligation is supposed to embody the ideal of a fair social contract where individuals are provided for, and in turn they make their contribution to society.
In reality, they are policies that are often coercive and driven by threat of penalty - particularly for people who do not have the skills, education, or confidence to meet the bureaucratic requirements.
And there are no prizes for guessing that Indigenous people are highly represented in this category.
But even if we put such concern aside for a minute and accept that 'mutual obligation' is a reasonable basis for social harmony.
The question still remains as to what this government is going to do in relation to its obligations to Australia's Indigenous people and their human rights ?
As I have said, the Government continues to deny and evade in ways that would certainly have them in trouble if they were seeking welfare assistance!
As you know, currently Philip Ruddock is the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.
I was appalled recently to hear that he had been overheard to say that Indigenous Affairs is the "recreational part of his portfolio".
If the findings of the two reports that we have before us today can in any way represent 'recreation', I think that we are, at best, dealing here with a delusional crisis - and at worst with blatant racism.
(Again there are no prizes for getting the answer right!)
I support the cause of fair and compassionate treatment of asylum seekers and I am an active advocate in this area.
I am also absolutely committed to the idea of a culturally diverse society, which I know enriches all of us.
But these contemporary debates and difficulties must not divert attention away from the very significant Indigenous needs such as those identified in these reports.
Indigenous issues clearly justify, and need to receive the focus of, a separate portfolio.
And I might add, they require a sympathetic Minister!
I urge all of you here today to keep the issues of Indigenous rights and social justice alive and in the forefront of your work.
You have excellent evidence in these reports to support you - and you have the inspiration of the tireless work that has gone into producing them.
We need to work together to insist that they not be ignored and left to gather dust on shelves.
I thank and congratulate Dr Jonas, and offer my full support to the recommendations that he makes.
I am hereby delighted to officially launch and commend to you: the 2001 Social Justice Report and the 2001 Native Title Report.
Thank you
