Critical Times

It should be abundantly clear to all that for the Rudd government it’s business as usual when it comes to Aboriginal Peoples – that the new boss is indeed the same as the old.

The calls for a Treaty, Bill of Rights and Constitutional Change etc that was raised and argued for by Aboriginal delegates at the 2020 Summit in the beginning was heard loud and clear, but by Summit’s end it was reduced and hushed down to an embarrassing choice of words by the closing report back.

Behind the fine words and listening and “closing the gap” rhetoric (whatever closing the gap means) we need to ask, where is the promotion of Aboriginal languages, our education systems our learning pathways, our systems of law and justice, where is the support and funding for the just and equal acknowledgement and implementation of our cultural values, beliefs and practices – where is our right to self-determination?

I am not suggesting that western education is not needed or crucial for Aboriginal Peoples but that our ways must also be justly and rightly given equal value and worth. If equilibrium and parity are to be achieved then our Aboriginal culture must be the ridge-pole around which all else revolves.

Aboriginal people are promised equality before western law and in settler society , we are promised good education, employment, access to the “real economy” etc, etc, provided Aboriginal Peoples forgo choice and in turn give up, give away and walk away from all we are.

It is clear that Aboriginal Peoples throughout Aboriginal country must continue to organise and struggle as hard, if not harder than during the recent racist Howard years. It seems to me that this current government is very media savvy, they know how to harness, stage and manage celebrity popularity to deflect the unfinished business of this country.

The fine words and accommodating smiles of this Federal Labor government and their cronies need to be thoroughly considered and scrutinised , for behind them lies an agenda of assimilation.

How people can sing from every branch of every tree with glee about having the maturity to become a Republic and crow about human rights but remain mute on a Treaty, which would without question reflect the maturity of the Australian nation and its commitment towards human rights more so than a Republic, absolutely astounds me!

If we hunger for just change, not just symbolic gamin spruik of so-called real economist, western educationist and closing the gap popular tends, etc, in this country, if we are serious about Aboriginal health and well-being, if we are serious about the oldest continuing culture in the world not only continuing but flourishing – then calls for a Treaty must be loud and organised and Aboriginal self-determination must be enshrined; and the wealth stolen daily from Aboriginal country must be returned. Is this not an objective, is this not a benchmark?

Karranjal John Hartley

Letter sent to “The Guardian” newspaper, May 7, 2008 issue.