Constitutions and Interventions

Last night I attended a forum at the ABC in Sydney: “A Constitution for all Australians – where to next for Indigenous recognition?” It was sponsored by the National Archives of Australia, because 9 July is the anniversary of Queen Victoria’s signing of the Australian Constitution.

The speakers were Professor Mick Dodson AM (ANU), Professor Megan Davis (UNSW), Ms. Alison Page, and Professor Father Frank Brennan AO (ACU). It was an interesting discussion as these four people talked about the work of the Expert Panel on the inclusion of Indigenous people in the Australian Constitution, and what Aboriginal people hope for at this time.

It is clear that Constitutional change will have an important impact on the way First Peoples see themselves and their place in Australian society, which will impact on health and well-being. It is change that is supported by a majority of people, particularly when it comes to recognition of Aboriginal people and the ending of discrimination.

The Federal Government has been slow to respond to the recommendations of the Panel, which is disappointing. There is significant support for Constitutional change, and as Ms. Page said, this is a wave that people need to catch and ride.

Please encourage people to find out about the panel’s recommendations, and encourage your local Federal member to seek a response from the Government.

You can hear the Forum on ABC Radio National, Bright Ideas, Monday 9 July.

On the way to Sydney I read the latest edition of National Indigenous Times. There on the front page was Rev Dr Djiniyini Gondarra promising that the next step in the protest of Aboriginal people against the Northern Territory Intervention would be an appeal to the High Court. In a disgraceful moment in our history the Government passed its legislation this week to continue this racist intervention, against the wishes of the First Peoples. The High Court may be the next place to act.

This morning I attended a NAIDOC celebration, and was reminded of the courage of those who started and supported the tent Embassy in Canberra, and the impact this had on the struggle for land rights and other issues.

We still have a long way to go to achieve justice for First Peoples, and to build an inclusive and reconciled community. There is a lot to be learned and a lot to do.

Listening to Indigenous voices

One of the truly destructive marks of colonialism is the undermining of leadership and authority structures as a way of destroying organised opposition. Colonial powers, including churches, privilege other voices and choose who they will listen to. Usually those voices are the more co-operative ones or the less angry ones or the voices of people trying to find a place in the new order.

The more recent equivalent is the pretence of ‘consultation.’ Government representatives fly into communities, hold brief meetings around pre-set agendas and programs, and fly out again before the last word is said. The cultural divide is so wide, and the power imbalance so massive that consultation is a sham, particularly when there is no intention to make any of the changes suggested. Decisions have already been made, driven by political assessments, and minor tweakings are the only possibility.

One of the things which the Northern Territory Emergency Response shows, though, is that people will not be silenced that easily. Those with leadership responsibilities in their community will find ways to speak. Recently there was a meeting of representatives from the people of the 8 nations in the Western, Central and East Arnhem Land areas of the Northern Territory. They gathered under Yolngu Makarr Dhuni (Yolngu Nations Assembly) to express their rejection of the Strong Futures Bill, affirm their place in the land, and call for genuine partnership and self-determination rather than this sort of top-down intervention in their lives.

For Christians this is about justice, hearing the voices of those who are marginalized, and deciding who we will sit with in our community. It is about creating spaces so that people can speak and be heard.

Another voice which is offering alternative voices to government propaganda on this issue and bilingual schooling is the website of the Northern Synod of the Uniting Church: http://www.ns.uca.org.au/  Check it out. Share information with your local Federal member.

Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution

I think that today will go down as a significant moment in the life of this nation. At lunch time today the expert Panel appointed to advise the Government on how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people could be recognized in the Constitution delivered its report and recommendations to the Prime Minister. The report can be read at http://www.youmeunity.org.au/

In 2 Corinthians 5:18 Paul says that God has reconciled us through Christ, and has given us a ministry of reconciliation. The Basis of Union says that God’s desire for the whole creation, the end in view, is its reconciliation and renewal, and that the church’s task is to serve that end (para. 3).

This suggestion to change the Constitution is a practical step in reconciliation in Australia, one that has had the active support of the Assembly of the Uniting Church and of the Uniting Aboriginal and islander Christian Congress.

The panel consulted widely. It received 3500 submissions, and conducted more than 250 consultations with over 4600 present. It conducted a number of surveys and opinion polls, and the overwhelming evidence is that a vast majority of people supported the idea of changes to the Constitution that would recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and which would prevent discrimination on the basis of race, colour or ethnic origin.

The actual suggestions are:

·                    To repeal Section 25 of the Constitution which allows the possibility that a State Government could disqualify a particular race from voting.

·                    To repeal the current races power (Section 51 (xxvi)) and its replacement with a new power (Section 51A) which would allow laws to be made for the well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (where the present power allows laws to be made that are detrimental to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples).

·                    This new power would be preceded by a preamble containing a statement of recognition.

·                    The addition of a new power recognizing English as the official language of Australia, but honouring the languages of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as part of our national heritage.

The next step is for people to engage in extensive debate, and to encourage people to be well-informed when the referendum happens.

A denial of fullness of life.

In John 10:10 Jesus says that he has come that people may have life, “and have it abundantly.” This has become for me a central beginning point for reflection on the shape of the Christian life. What does it mean to have abundant life or fullness of life? What does human well-being look like?

The Basis of Union of the Uniting Church affirms that “Jesus is head over all things, the beginning of a new creation, of a new humanity. God in Christ has given to all people in the Church the Holy Spirit as a pledge and foretaste of that coming reconciliation and renewal that is the end in view for the whole creation” (paragraph 3).

Reconciliation, renewal and abundant life; these sit at the heart of the desire of God and the nature of the church.

Last night I went to see a documentary in a theatre in Newcastle. It was the only public showing of the film “Our Generation,’ a viewing sponsored by the Wollotuka Centre at Newcastle University. The film explores the impact of Government policy, and particularly the Intervention, on the Aboriginal people of Eastern Arnhem Land.

This is the story of the denial of human well-being. It is a story of thinly veiled racism, and the continuation of assimilation policies hidden under fancy words. It is about the denial of the ability of Aboriginal people to exercise control over their own lives, and to be Aboriginal people rather than black reflections of European society. It is about the denial of the rights of Aboriginal people to be treated as citizens, with the race discrimination Act being suspended to allow the Intervention. It is about an attempt to steal people’s land, and broken promises and blackmail – do what we tell you or there is no money for basic things like housing and education. It is about multiple breaches of the UN statements on Indigenous rights which the Australian government says it believes in. It is about the denial of language and culture, and inappropriate and imposed solutions. It is about the continuation of Government policy that spends money on white advisors and managers and almost nothing on the people.

Buy a copy for yourself for Christmas. Buy a copy for your local Federal member. Take some friends to see your local member and tell her/him to end the Intervention immediately and consult in a genuine way with Aboriginal people.

Acknowledging that we live on Aboriginal land

Last night at our church we shared a meal and conversation with some Aboriginal people about the importance of the acknowledgement that people live on their land. It was interesting to hear people talk about the way such actions are really about a shift in the way we view the world, and are of deep symbolic value. Acknowledgement and, sometimes, arranging for a welcome to country, are respectful actions which honour Aboriginal people and their life and history.

I think it is also important for Christians to realize that acknowledgement is not ‘simply’ an act of justice, an attempt to build better relationships with First peoples. When Christians enact particular moral stances we are seeking to reflect our understanding of the nature and place of God in the world. We see this clearly, for example, in the way the Ten Commandments are delivered to the people of Israel. The beginning of this teaching or law is: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Deut. 5:6). The laws that follow flow from that relationship, that sense of the activity and character of God.

To make this acknowledgement is to suggest something about the way we see God, our relationship to Jesus, and the shape of the Christian life. It is a way of imaginatively reconstructing the world and the way the church lives in invaded space.

The other thing that I found really uplifting in last night’s conversation was a new awareness of how hard people are working to reclaim their culture and language, including regaining skills to make some really important things like possum skin cloaks (which were worn across a large part of the eastern regions of Australia). And there is a wonderful dynamism to this as people now have to get pelts from New Zealand, and use the materials used to stitch saddles rather than sinews from kangaroos.

I am very grateful to Aboriginal people who are willing to share their life and stories with the rest of us. Thank you for you time and courage.

Continuing Colonialism

It is a miracle that Aboriginal people survive. The colonial agenda never ends. It is bad enough that the Federal Government suspended the Race Discrimination Act to put in place what is commonly called the ‘intervention’ in the Northern Territory, or that this present Government ignores all the signs that things are worse for most people in regard to health and income security and care of children than they were before.

Then we had so-called consultation that rushed around communities with far too little time to hear what people said, that interpreted what people said in ways that supported a pre-established position, and now produces another report – Stronger Futures – that does not represent the real issues. At least that is the response of a group of Aboriginal leaders headed by Rev Dr Djiniyi Gondarra and Rosalie Kunoth-Monks have said.

And now we have another attempt to undermine Aboriginal language and culture.

If people are to survive culturally they need to learn their language and see their culture valued. One way this happens is through Indigenous community television networks which facilitate local language productions for communities.

There are now plans to change the arrangements regarding direct-to-home satellite delivery of digital TV. At present the Remote Indigenous Broadcasting Services have free-to-air access for three Indigenous television services (which can include local generated content), as well as four mainstream TV services. This gives people a reasonable balance of local and wider TV programs, language and culture.

However the current plans for digital TV mean that there will be 16 channels of mainstream, monolingual, monocultural English language TV; an onslaught of Western English language images and content. And no Indigenous services. Language, cultural pride, and the motivation to participate culturally will be further undermined. Big business wins at the expense of local communities. An ideology of freedom of choice wins over any proper concern for genuine choice and the value of what is local. 

Aboriginal Incarceration

The European occupation of this land was founded in invasion and the racist assumptions of colonial powers that were expressed in terra nullius. One of the weapons of colonial powers and modern nation states is always imprisonment and over-policing.

Twenty years ago the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody sought to offer suggestions about ways to reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in prison and dying in prison. The figures were a scandal, and many promises were made. Yet almost nothing has been done; if anything the situation is worse.

A few months ago the Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs released the report ‘Doing Time – Time for Doing..’ The report found that Aboriginal juveniles and young adults were 28 times more likely than their non-Indigenous counterparts to be locked up in detention. In NSW 59% of the juvenile detention population is Aboriginal. In 1992 Indigenous peoples made up fourteen percent of the total prison population, and that had increased to twenty-one percent by 2004.

The causes of Aboriginal youth crime are well-documented: poor housing, poor health, mental illness, low participation in education and employment, substance abuse, cultural alienation and family dysfunction. Additionally there is some suggestion that police still target some parts of the community more than others. When Aboriginal people get to court they are often not provided with fair legal representation, cannot afford good support, and often receive harsher penalties than other members of the community.

There is a great need for government support for more support for Aboriginal Legal Aid, for substance abuse programs, for culture support programs, and for policing policies that shift from a focus on imprisonment to early intervention, diversion and community support.

As one small step we should encourage the NSW Government to change the Bail Act so that it is easier for children and young people to get bail, and less likely that they will be held in detention. Far too many young people are held in detention even though when they appear in court they will not get a custodial sentence.

As Christians we need to oppose the racist narrative that still accepts and justified this terrible destruction of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples.