Aboriginal affairs has moved a long way since John Howard won office in 1996, though whether forwards or backwards is arguable. Who would have thought that the abolition of the major structure of Aboriginal involvement and participation in decision making would occur without fuss or controversy, least of all from the Labor Party? Indeed, that Labor would actually anticipate the policy? And who would have expected that its replacement—‘mainstreaming’ and a whole of government approach—would be determined without any mechanisms for establishing accountability either to Aborigines or the wider community?
Aborigines have, for too long, been portrayed as the victims of government policies, tossed like corks in the ocean of a wider politic. Yes, politicians will do whatever they can get away with. But the fate of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and 30 years of Aboriginal affairs policies is equally a result of the words, actions and omissions of Aboriginal leaders. That many people, including Aborigines, see as much opportunity as risk in the new arrangements reflects both a failure within Aboriginal politics, and stupidity outside it.
The failure is not simply that those at the top chose unsuitable men to lead, or became so lost in the thicket of minding their own positions that they ignored the plight of Aboriginal communities. Nor is it just ATSIC’s failure to become a viable forum, to plan for Aboriginal development, or to wield the necessary resources. ATSIC as a polity never developed an idea beyond a slogan, nor were the slogans new. At a regional level it devised some systems for sharing resources, and some partnership role in setting priorities, but this capacity emanated from agendas written by others or by history. ATSIC was never able to compel governments to provide services taken for granted by the wider community. John Howard was responsible for progress in this area, without prompting from ATSIC.
The leaders of ATSIC failed to be articulate spokesmen and women, whether to governments, the wider population, or, perhaps most damningly, to Aborigines themselves.
This sealed the fate of ATSIC, even if there was a mood in some quarters that the organisation was so tame (and pre-occupied by its own shenanigans) that Aboriginal affairs had ceased to be a political problem. Yet even the Howard Government is impatient with the lack of results in Aboriginal affairs.
It is frustrated that much of the ‘action’ has been about secondary issues.