2009 Speech: Launch of Social Justice and Native Title Reports 2008

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 30^th 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:

• One, the government should formally support and implement the United Nations
  Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
• Two, a national Human Rights Act should be passed that includes specific
  protection of Indigenous rights;
• Three, constitutional reform should recognise Indigenous peoples in the
  preamble, as well as remove existing discriminatory provisions and replace these
  with a guarantee of equal treatment and non discrimination;
• Four, a National Indigenous Representative Body should be established and
  processes put in place to ensure the full participation of Indigenous peoples in
  decision-making that affects their interests;
• Five, a framework for negotiations with Indigenous people should be
  developed to address the unfinished business of reconciliation; and
• Six, a focus on human rights education be pursued to build a culture of
  human rights protection and respect.

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 $1.6 billion commitment towards achieving Indigenous health
  equality;
• the National Indigenous Health Equality Targets; and
• a National Indigenous Health Equality Council.

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:

• Reduced availability of fresh water;
• Inundation and destruction of infrastructure like housing, sewerage, power,
  roads and airstrips;
• Greater risk of disease from flooded rubbish tips and insect borne diseases
  like dengue fever;
• Degradation of significant cultural sites; and
• The inability to travel between islands.
  

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