Statement: Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

9th Aug 04

Mr ORGAN (Cunningham) (1.42 p.m.) —I would like to inform the House of the shameful position adopted by this government regarding the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I do so on behalf of Mr Roy `Dootch' Kennedy of the Kuradgi Sandon Point Aboriginal tent embassy in my electorate of Cunningham. Under the auspices of the United Nations, the declaration was drafted between 1985 and 1995 by the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and then handed over to a special working group comprising nation states and Indigenous organisations. Prior to the election of the Howard government in 1996, Australia was leading the way in supporting Indigenous rights. However, things changed dramatically and tragically when the present government took control. In a disgraceful move, in 1998 this government rejected the use of the term `self-determination'. This is a core issue for Indigenous peoples around the world, and the decision was soundly opposed by all Indigenous groups and many governments. Today Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan are seen as the fiercest challengers to the fundamental principles underlying the declaration, including those of self-determination, promotion of Indigenous language and collective rights.

Dootch Kennedy, one of Australia's representatives at last year's working group meeting in South Africa, told me only this morning that the Australian proposal would:

... water down the rights of Indigenous Australians and make it more difficult to pursue those rights in the future.

The working group is due to meet in September and then in December to finalise the declaration and pass it on to the UN for ratification. This present government shames us all by its opposition to the draft declaration and its advocacy against Indigenous rights and sovereignty.