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The following opinion pieces have been published by the President and Commissioners. Reproduction of the opinion pieces must include reference to where the opinion piece was originally published.

National Congress will be more representative than all previous models

Author: By Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner

Publication: ABC Unleashed, 11 January 2010

It is great to see some comment and debate about a national representative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the analysis in Thalia Anthony's article, Learning from ATSIC (6 January).

There are however, some inaccuracies and omissions.

Firstly the report to the Minister, "Our future in our hands", was a report from a steering committee of Indigenous people, not from the Australian Human Rights Commission. This is an important point that highlights that the process and report has been determined and controlled by Indigenous people without interference or direction by government or the Commission. The government has been supportive and has principally funded the steering committee's operation although members provided their services on a pro-bono basis.

Secondly, 80 members of the Congress and all members of the National Executive will be elected by their peers who will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people involved in existing representative bodies whose boards and members have been elected, or in lesser numbers, appointed by a Minister or government.
 
The remaining 40 members of the Congress will be selected through a merit based selection process involving the Ethics Council. This is clearly spelt out in the report and it is by far more representative than all previous representative structures.

Regarding the issue of legislative powers, no organisation in Australia has powers that override the sovereignty of Parliament - not even Senate or House of Representatives committees established by the government of the day.

As an aside, it is worth noting that the Social Justice Commissioner position was established by legislation and has legislative responsibility to report annually to the Federal Parliament but there is no legislative power to direct Parliament to respond to the social justice or native title report's recommendations.

The National Congress of Australia's First Peoples Report (Our future in our hands) proposes a number of ways to address the issue of authority including partnership, rules of engagement and membership of parliamentary committees.

What must not be overlooked also is that the Congress will focus on national issues: it will provide advice to government; and it will monitor implementation of Government programs and services through its membership and feedback accordingly. It will not usurp the role or function of existing Indigenous bodies (which will remain unchanged) but will facilitate an opportunity for Indigenous bodies to express common messages to government and bureaucrats, and most importantly, provide  Information back to the community and assist to build their capacity.

It is also important for people to note the effectiveness of representative bodies like the National Farmers' Federation, ACOSS, and a range of business groups for example, in order to imagine the potential of the Congress in the future. The Close the Gap campaign for Indigenous Health Equality which emanated from my 2005 Social Justice Report, is another real example of what a collegiate and strategic partnership with government can achieve. The CTG campaign is the only national Indigenous affairs bipartisan agreement in effect at this time and the Congress will hopefully aspire to achieve the same.

One major and unfortunate issue that has emerged in recent months in the discourse surrounding the establishment of this new representative body, evident in some blogs and in general media reportage, is that a more thorough reading of any of the three related reports produced by the Social Justice Commissioner or the steering committee, would have led to more informed and more accurate commentary.