Now that PM John Howard has announced the abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, his project of crushing every vestige of “special treatment” for Indigenous people is complete.
Mark Latham stole his thunder, by announcing Labor’s intention to abolish ATSIC first, but the real political message of the end of ATSIC is the agreement between the major parties that the brief experiment with Indigenous control of programs for the advancement of Indigenous people is over.
Labor deserves credit for establishing a national body elected by Aboriginal and Islander peoples to direct policy and implement programs, but from the beginning its powers were limited and its budget inadequate. It was always a sop to cover the refusal to make a treaty or recognise real land rights.
Even this limited project was in Howard’s sights from the moment he was elected. The rise of Pauline Hanson made it easier for him to attack what the right called the “Aboriginal Industry”.
ATSIC’s leadership, its probity and its management were constantly attacked by Howard’s media claque. A million-dollar audit was imposed on it — which came up with little — but the cost came out of ATSIC’s budget.
Allegations against its leaders were magnified into sensational court cases. The media circus around the rape allegations against Geoff Clarke served their purpose — to discredit ATSIC by attacking its leader. It also ensured that neither Clarke nor his alleged victim will ever get a fair hearing in court.
While ATSIC’s credibility bled to death, Labor had nothing to say. Howard’s racist wedge worked. Emboldened by Hanson’s electoral success, Howard hardened his stance — against native title, against an apology to the stolen generations, against formal reconciliation. Howard collected his prize — Hanson’s constituency — and former Labor leader Kim Beazley never seriously challenged Howard on any of these issues.
No wonder Howard pursued the same racist strategy with asylum seekers and succeeded spectacularly. Beazley and then Simon Crean could never successfully respond because they accepted his premise that voters were racist and could not be won to an anti-racist position by Labor supporting refugee and Aboriginal rights.
Mick Dodson attributes Howard’s stance to “his essentially divided conception of Australia as a mainstream community with shared values under siege from minorities such as Aboriginal peoples” (from The Howard Years, edited by Robert Manne). Sadly it seems that Latham has embraced Howard’s conception as his own.
His position on the refugees in detention and future asylum seekers is indistinguishable from the government’s. The demand to use patrol boats to stop people smugglers implicitly endorses Howard’s repugnant Tampa policy. Latham’s view of multiculturalism seems to be that Australians are “over it”.
His announcement that Labor will abolish ATSIC gave Howard the green light. Labor’s intention to retain the regional council structures and consult Indigenous people over the replacement body is a gesture. There is no evidence that Latham consulted any Indigenous people over his decision.
This is alarming. More than ever we need a public and vocal counterweight to the cynical racism of the government, given the campaign against “terrorism” that is stirring up hatred towards Muslims and Arab people.
The Socialist Alliance, from its inception, has been involved in the refugee-rights campaign and the struggle for Indigenous peoples’ rights. Our part in the campaign for justice for Indigenous youth in Redfern is the most recent instance of our involvement. Opposing racism is central to opposing the phoney war on terrorism and should be at the forefront of the federal election campaign.
We need mobilisations and public debate that exposes the links between the racism towards Aboriginal peoples and the racism towards Muslims and refugees, and which opposes the attacks on our civil rights in the name of fighting terrorism.
We call on all of those who are opposed to racism, including those within the Labor Party, to help mobilise a renewed campaign against all of its manifestations and to put public pressure on Latham to change Labor’s position, whether in opposition or as the party in power.
Anne Picot
From Green Left Weekly, May 5, 2004.
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