Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, across the range of social and economic indicators, still record substantially worse outcomes, face greater problems and enjoy fewer opportunities than the rest of the population.
The poverty and relative powerlessness of Australia's Indigenous people are illustrated by [many] indicators . 1
The Government's long term objective is for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have sufficient economic and social independence to enjoy to the full their rights as Australian citizens and opportunities to participate in Australian society. 2
When I stated in my First Report that ` social justice is not primarily a matter of the relief of suffering, it is a matter of fulfilment of a responsibility 3 , I was taking all Australians to task for the paternalism and the underlying systemic racism which has dominated this country's approach to Indigenous affairs. The report was an invitation to take a conceptual leap from a `welfare-based' approach to a `rights-based' approach.
Now is a significant moment in history.
Right now, social policy in this country is poised between two fundamentally different paradigms: `welfare/disadvantage' and `rights/entitlements'. Or rather, it is simultaneously grappling with both.
The moment has never been so ripe for the type of paradigm shift I have advocated. Never before has there been such unambiguous and determined political leadership at the highest level. Never before has the energy for change been so focused and harnessed towards ensuring concrete and lasting reform.
These two quotations are both drawn from the same 1992-3 policy statement of the Federal Government. The former reflects the welfare-based approach; the latter is firmly based on the recognition of rights. The former represents the past, and the latter, I believe, could represent the future.
This tension in approach is far from isolated. This year we have heard that Indigenous health must be made a priority as a matter of right; but we have also heard that non-Indigenous Australia must attend to Indigenous health because of Indigenous peoples' greater health deficits. We have heard that Indigenous peoples have just claims to land in recognition of Native Title rights; but we have also heard that selected pieces of land should be `given' to some Indigenous peoples because of their extreme disadvantage. The highest court in the country proclaimed that the law must be an instrument for the social, cultural and economic empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, while the popular airwaves continued to resonate with resentment at `Aboriginal welfare' and `more hand-outs'.
The only thing that is clear is that this nation is confused. There are currents pulling in both directions and we seem undecided as to which way to go.
In a country where `perceived need' was the basic currency for debate about social policy, the number of people who have accepted my invitation to change has astonished me. It is now not uncommon to hear politicians and public commentators justify policies and programmes in terms of peoples' rights as if they had never thought otherwise.
Still more encouraging has been the move by Indigenous peoples to adopt this framework. Many, who previously felt that their only leverage would be to prove `disadvantage', now confidently assert that what they are demanding ought to be available as a matter of right. It is remarkable how quickly a concept is taken on when it accurately describes the reality.
Sustaining change, however, requires courage. `Things Indigenous' will not always be the flavour of the month and, while our door of opportunity may be briefly open, the opponents of Indigenous rights will quite happily continue with their regressive push until the status quo is restored. They are only waiting for a sufficient number of rights proponents to tire, give up, pack up and go home.
The only way that the shift can be made to stick is to translate it into action. There is a wave of change as the world approaches the end of the millennium and as this country nears the centenary of Federation. If we do not seize this opportunity, and seize it with our laws, institutions and practices, Australia will begin the 21st Century as it began the 19th Century.
Such noble statements, however, roll easily off the tongue; far more easily than concrete proposals. People may well be ready to speak about rights and entitlements but there is a gaping hole when it comes to translating this framework into practices and institutions.
Now is the time to make the connection between rights, lived realities and concrete political action.
All those involved, be they community people, politicians or bureaucrats must recognise that they have a role and a responsibility in filling out the concept of rights.
Enter the Office of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.
The Office of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner is unique. Nowhere else in the world is there such a body specifically set up with wide-ranging powers to monitor the human rights situation of the Indigenous peoples of a country in the light of international human rights standards. This Office is in the unparalleled position of being able to call governments to account for their human rights performance in concrete and specific terms and to make recommendations as to action to promote the enjoyment and exercise of human rights by Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders.
Such observations are at once inspiring and daunting. We can now invoke a wide-range of international benchmarks for human rights. The opportunity exists to point to mechanisms which will support those rights and thereby assist in realising the aspirations of Indigenous Australians. Yet we have no simple guidelines which will spell out how we are to operate, no neatly set-out and agreed priorities or operational manuals. We certainly have much to learn from the experiences of other countries, and we would be foolish not to do so. 4 However, especially in these early years of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, we must thoughtfully and explicitly set out the objectives, parameters and means of our work.