Senator Andrew Bartlett
Monday, June 06, 2005
 
Noel Pearson & Tectonic Shifts

When Aden Ridgeway's term in the Senate expires at the end of this month, I take on the role of the Democrats' spokesperson on indigenous issues. My main goal in that role will be to try to help get these issues more continually and seriously onto the political and public agenda.

There is some reported disagreement today amongst some indigenous leaders about the extremely positive descriptions by Noel Pearson of the Prime Minister's speech last week to a national reconciliation conference. Pearson described the speech as marking a "tectonic shift" in the Prime Minister's position. I'm not so convinced of that, partly because of this Government's long record of saying one thing and doing something very different. However, it is worth taking the time to look at the speech and the issues raised within it – it is available by clicking here. I'd be interested in any feedback people have on its content.

I agree with many of the points Noel Pearson made on ABC TV's Insiders program yesterday. However, one thing I do disagree with him on is his view that it is a non-issue as to whether the Indigenous Affairs ministry is handled by someone who has no other Ministerial responsibilities, as opposed to now where the same Minister also handles Immigration. This isn't about Departmental structures, it is about Ministerial and political priority and frankly, I think it is a no-brainer that the Indigenous Affairs Minister should have no other responsibilities. There is no way we can get the level of political leadership and prioritisation that is necessary for indigenous issues unless the responsible Minister is focused on it full-time. This is not an attack on the ability of the current Minister Amanda Vanstone – nobody can seriously give the role of Indigenous Affairs Minister the focus and energy it deserves if they have to spend half (or more) of their time on other matters, let alone something as major as Immigration issues.

If there really is going to be a tectonic shift in the attitude of the Howard Government towards indigenous affairs, they have to demonstrate it by allocating a Minister to work on this issue on a full-time basis, while still giving it the seniority of a Cabinet position. There is scarcely a more compelling area of policy failure in Australia - a failure that I've argued before is, in a significant way, holding back all Australians - and it requires high priority and unrelenting attention.

posted by Andrew Bartlett @ Monday, June 06, 2005 Permalink
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