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Petrol bowsers for washing kids’ faces: a new era in Indigenous policy
Ruth McCausland
Jumbunna Indigenous Research Unit, University of Technology, Sydney
Contact Email: Ruth.McCausland
uts.edu.au
In the lead up to last year’s federal election, there was little reference by either of the major parties to policy to address the ongoing disadvantage and discrimination experienced by Indigenous communities, beyond the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader tripping over each other to claim credit for abolishing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) as a ‘failed social experiment’. Political debate and media representations focused on hostile exchanges over the culpability of ATSIC and its Board, rather than a more complex analysis of the causes of or appropriate responses to Indigenous disadvantage. The Australian Government have indicated that their new policy approach will be that of ‘new mainstreaming’ underpinned by ‘mutual obligation’; of mainstream government departments working together with Indigenous communities to negotiate individual ‘Shared Responsibility Agreements’, where governments commit to providing resources and services to Indigenous communities in exchange for commitments to behavioural change. Indigenous leaders have described this approach as a return to assimilation, as blackmail, and as a form of social engineering. Others have heralded it as a much needed new direction in Indigenous affairs. This paper will provide a critique of the Government’s Indigenous policy, and the implications for Indigenous communities.
Paper
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Paper125.doc
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Copyright © 2007 Social Policy Research Centre.
