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Extraordinary Forum - The Future of Australian Indigenous Governance
Warren Mundine[∗∗]
I wish to acknowledge we are holding this forum on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I wish to pay my respect to their Elders, past and present, and to all the Gadigal people and the Eora Nation.
I also wish to pay my respect to the Elders and traditional owners of all the Goori Nations and peoples around Australia.
I wish to pay my respect and honour my Elders and ancestors of the Bundjalung and Gumbainggirr nations, whose blood travels within my veins and whose strength I draw on everyday.
I’m a proud Goori and a proud member of the Bundjalung and Gumbainggirr Nations.
Today I will be using terms during my presentation such as ‘Goori’. For those that don’t know ‘Goori’ is the term for the Bundjalung and Gumbainggirr people for Aboriginal Australians.
I’m a strong and proud supporter of using our own language and terms.
Did you hear about the Prime Minister in the Australian newspaper over the weekend? The story is four women are accusing him of rape thirty years ago, before he entered Federal Parliament in the seventies.
And the other one about the Deputy Prime Minister who served time for rape and has allegations of corruption and maladministration against him. Did you hear those stories?
These stories are untrue of course, but you can guess where I’m heading.
Goori leadership has never been at such a low point, but at the same time at such a high point.
The performance of some our leaders at ATSIC, the recently dismissed Councillors of the NSWALC and some Goori organisations is quite frankly an embarrassment to Goori people.
On the other hand we have Goori members of Parliament and Local Government around Australia in record numbers. We have Goori Ministers, Mayors and Deputy Mayors. We have Goori women, who make up 50% of Goori people, represented in those Parliaments. We have Goori people climbing up the ranks of political parties, industry and business, and the whole of society through education, sport and community work.
Tonight’s public forum topic is called ‘After ATSIC? Futures for Aboriginal Australians in Government and Governance’.
With the major political parties both advocating the abolition of ATSIC at the Federal level, the sacking of the NSW Aboriginal Land Councillors by the State Minister and the review of the Land Council system in NSW, people can say Goori affairs are taking a beating. Or they can see the opportunities for change, and for righting the wrongs.
I see the opportunity for change and for righting the wrongs of the past, especially the recent past. It is an opportunity to finally build a future for ourselves and our people in a modern, contemporary world.
When Mark Latham and Senator Kerry O’Brien announced the basis for Labor’s Goori policy in a media release recently, many people seemed not to read past the first paragraph which stated ATSIC was to be abolished. You have to read onwards, where you would see Labor’s commitment to an elected national body and the building of a strong regional base. Positive changes included commitments to a seat at the table of COAG [Council of Australian Governments] and transparent and accountable spending on Goori affairs, not only within Goori organisations but also within Federal and State agencies, where the bulk of funds are spent.
The announcement of the sacking of the NSW Aboriginal Land Councillors and the review of the Land Council system by Andrew Refshauge was long overdue. These are policies and actions I fully endorse and support.
We will have to wait to see the details, because past policies and actions by Governments of all political persuasions have failed us miserably, often falling short of policy promises and statements that service delivery would improve.
Some of our own political and community leaders and organisations have also failed us by pushing forward their own self-interest, rather than looking out for the greater good when opportunities have appeared in the past. This time I am optimistic and have a positive approach to the coming changes, and I will be working towards successful outcomes for Goori people.
I advocate that we meet the challenge of the future by putting forward ideas for refinements which will make the system work for the betterment and benefit of all Goori people.
Before we can do that we need to recognise the problems. My short list of recognised problems include:
Let me make it quite clear that for the first time as a Goori person I can see positive changes on their way, which will help to overcome many of those ills, but we’re at a fork in the road. Which way forward?
Do we follow the mainstreaming path of the Federal Conservative Government, do we continue along the same path as we have been following or do we create a new path, a new future that meets our needs and has proper outcomes?
We have the past 29 years of experiences of contemporary Goori governance, 200 years of non-Goori governance and thousands of years of Goori governance prior to the arrival of non-Goori. We need to draw on those experiences as well as the experiences of people around the world. We need to build on our culture and society to meet the needs of our people in a modern and contemporary society.
For Goori Government and Governance to move forward, a number of changes must be made. These changes include, but are not restricted to, the following.
There needs to be a regionalisation of Goori representation. With the Federal Government and Opposition in agreement about the closing of ATSIC and the NSW Government’s review of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council system, an opportunity has now arisen for the ending of the duplication of Goori representation over the same country. One single (State & Federal) regional body speaking for country is the ideal. Let’s do away with the duplication of Federal and State bodies with their waste of funds through duplication. One Country, One Goori Representative Body.
These regional representative bodies need to be based on traditional owner Nations whether standing alone or in a group. They must be of a realistic size in terms of population and territory. Examples of a stand alone body would be the Wiradjuri (large population, large territory). An example of a group of nations would be around the NSW mid-north coast where a number of smaller nations exist (small populations, small territory). They could form a federation of nations such as the Five Nations in the United States and Canada. You could call it the Group of Five Nations or the Goori Nations Federation or anything. This is based on traditional formation used prior to contact devastation.
The regional representative bodies would represent country to Local Government, State and Federal agencies, and any third parties (eg, mining companies, farmers, etc) on matters concerning cultural heritage, native title and land rights, mineral resources, natural resources, water, infrastructure development or any other development. One Country, One Representative Body.
The regional representative bodies would form national and state associations which would lobby governments on Goori issues of policy, funding, legislation, and so on.
Federal, State and Local Government would fund the regional representative bodies on a local government grant commission type formula by starting with the population of the area which the regional representative body covers and the remoteness of the area from a large regional centre and capital city.
Representative and Service delivery agencies need to be separated to avoid the sins of nepotism, the buying of votes, conflicts of interest and corruption. Funding would be on a needs basis with a similar funding formula to the regional representative bodies that would be transparent and accountable with benchmarks that the service delivery agencies need to meet or funding will cease. Examples are housing which would be delivered by a state wide housing corporation.
Good corporate governance by the elected regional representatives needs to be enforced. A Goori Tribunal where people can lodge complaints about their elected representative or representatives and a hearing would be held where the Tribunal will have the powers to dismiss the complaint or to uphold the complaint. If the complaint is upheld, warnings, suspensions or expulsions could be handed out by the Tribunal as well as recommending that criminal charges be laid by the Director of Public Prosecution and/or the Minister sacking the elected representatives to be replaced by an administrator for a period of time.
All elected representatives must attend training in corporate governance and financial management as an ongoing basis or they would lose their position on the representative body.
There would be an annual fee for elected representatives, but no sitting fees. Sitting fees have led to abuse in the past with an extraordinary number of meaningless meetings.
Elected representatives shall not sit on the Boards of service delivery agencies.
Regional representative bodies would be banned from entering into business enterprises and no non-profit organisation would be funded as a Goori business enterprise. Let’s end to the community non-profit business enterprises that have either failed or not delivered direct benefits to Goori people. All they have done, along with government policies, is enslave Goori people in the cycle of ever increasing welfare dependency.
Mainstream non-Goori Federal, State and Local Government agencies need to be made more transparent and accountable when using Goori funds. A Senate estimates type procedure needs to be put in place where the Goori national and state associations are able to question these agencies. Where they are failing a penalty should be imposed where funds would be withheld from those government agencies until they meet the agreed outcomes.
In regard to the compensations and negotiated funds from native title or land rights as well as the profits from Goori business ventures there needs to be a direct benefit to Goori people. Currently these funds go into non-profit organisations that have not shown any direct benefit to the Goori people who are supposed to have benefited from these schemes.
An example would be the $500 million held in investment under the Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW). This was compensation for the loss of lands, language and culture of NSW Goori people. Very few Goori people, outside of the employees and Councillors of the Land Councils, have benefited from this fund. In fact large amounts of funds have been lost to the Goori people. I make the following suggestion. This is compensation money so therefore Goori people should get a direct benefit. This can be achieved through the funds being held by a Goori Investment Trust which would invest the funds. From the interest of the funds 50% would be reinvested with the original $500 million. This would give an ongoing and growing fund for future generations of Goori people with a growing interest. From the remaining 50% four things would happen.
1. It would be divided into two equal amounts.
2. From the first equal amount (25% of the original investment interest) the administration cost of the trust would be paid and the rest would be dispersed to each of the regional representative bodies on the agreed formula as stated earlier.
3. From the second equal amount (25% of the original investment interest) the rest of the funds would be dispersed equally to each individual NSW Goori person like a dividend.
4. All the above would be tax exempt.
I know that this sounds controversial, but remember the funds are for compensation and why shouldn’t Goori people have a direct benefit?
The compensation and negotiated funds from Native Title and Land Rights could also be invested in this Goori Investment Trust as well. This would have an ongoing benefit for all Goori people. I have seen too many funds from Native Title and Land Rights wasted and of no benefit to Goori people.
I also believe Goori people need to play a greater role in mainstream politics. We need to get on the electoral role and most importantly, we need to vote. We can no longer blame other people if we are not prepared to participate in the electoral system and have our say. My parents, grandparents, great grandparents, as well as people like William Ferguson, William Cooper, Bert Grove, Faith Bandler, Pearl Gibbs and many other great Goori people fought for the right to vote. Do I now say they fought for nothing? They wasted their time? There are some five Federal seats that can change hands if all eligible Goori people enrolled and voted. Do not underestimate the power of the vote.
Goori people need to participate in the electoral process as candidates at Local Government level and working within political parties for State and Federal elections. There are currently eight Goori people in Parliaments around Australia with two Goori Ministers. Two percent of the elected arm of Local Government in NSW is Goori which is amazing when you consider Goori people make up less then two percent of the NSW population. The President of Young Labor in the Northern Territory is Goori. Goori Labor Networks are forming all over Australia. This has been a growing trend over the past 14 years which leads me to predict that a Goori person will a leader of the parliamentary wing of a major party within the next 15 to 20 years. Future Goori leadership will be drawn from the Local Governments and political parties.
Goori people need to take up the call to enroll and vote, to stand as candidates at Local Government elections, to participate in all levels of political parties as members, Branch Officials, conferences, state and federal officials and candidates at Federal and State elections. It is only through this process that we can have an influence and control over policies and legislation.
Stronger leadership, in taking on the culture of economic development, education and personal responsibility I see all these measures as improving outcomes for Goori people and the need for Goori people taking responsibility for their own improvement and breaking the welfare mentality that exists.
[∗] This is an edited version of the speech, which is available online at
<http://www.ilc.unsw.edu.au/events/after_atsic.html> .
[∗∗] Warren Mundine is Chief Executive Officer of NSW Native Title Services Pty Ltd. He is also National Junior Vice President of the Australian Labor Party. Educated in Sydney at Benedict Marist Brothers College at Auburn, Warren later studied at the South Australian Institute of Technology. He is currently a member of the Macquarie Area Health Board, the NSW PCYC Board and the Local Government Association of NSW and Deputy Mayor of Dubbo.
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUIndigLawRpr/2004/6.html