BY EMMA MURPHY
For many non-Indigenous Australians, the mainstream press' coverage of Indigenous affairs is where we learn most about Aboriginal Australians. It's no surprise, therefore, that our society suffers from a high level of racism reflected through fear or dislike of the original inhabitants of this land.
Does the corporate-owned press believe anything positive happens in Aboriginal communities, remote or urban? Or is it all domestic violence, child abuse, low education outcomes and corrupted leadership?
Reading reports of endemic health crises and failing employment programs, are we to conclude that self-determination doesn't work, that Indigenous people are unable or unwilling to self-govern after all?
Perhaps the media wants us to think a return to the paternalistic "protectionist" policies of last century is the only chance "we" (white Australians) have of saving "them" (Indigenous people).
A recent review into the role and functioning of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission has concluded that the peak Indigenous representative and advisory body is seriously failing its responsibility to Aboriginal Australians.
It points to the high levels of violence in Aboriginal communities, and a worsening health crisis. The report's findings and recommendations have been enthusiastically taken up by Indigenous-affairs minister Philip Ruddock as yet more justification for his moves to take power away from ATSIC.
There are, however, aspects of the report that are getting less coverage. It finds, for example, that ATSIC is often unfairly blamed for problems which are not its jurisdiction.
The well-documented Indigenous health crisis, for example, has worsened over the last decade, despite responsibility for Indigenous health services going back to the federal government in the mid 1990s.
One shouldn't, however, let the facts get in the way of a good round of blame the victim. While ATSIC is receiving such negative publicity, it has been fairly easy for the press and the government to highlight all things wrong with Aboriginal Australia, and link them to ATSIC and its apparent failure.
Another point raised in the report is that ATSIC is having less and less influence over government decisions, and is not "holding government agencies to account" as much as it should. Or, put another way, the racist policies of the Coalition government, the fact that it doesn't listen to Indigenous voices and the fact that its myriad bureaucracies and departments are failing Aboriginal Australians, is also ATSIC's fault.
And the solution? Scrap ATSIC, of course. Don't criticise the government. It really is trying.
True, there are problems in Indigenous communities. Interestingly enough, they are the same kind of problems you can find elsewhere in the world among people living in extreme poverty: people who have been dispossessed, oppressed, invaded and denied citizenship rights.
You could probably find the same sorts of problems in non-Indigenous communities in Australia; depression and alienation which can lead in turn to anger and when ignored for too long violence and substance abuse.
Perhaps we should conclude that the Coalition government as the peak representative and decision-making body of the Australian populace is failing its responsibility to its people. Perhaps all funding power should be given back to the people.
ATSIC, as a government-funded national bureaucracy, is not immune to corruption and other problems. Some of the problems might be the fault of individuals, or bad administration. But some of the problems might also have nothing to do with, for example, who is in the top job and what the journalists can find in their past, if they dig deep enough.
ATSIC has been around for 12 years, and in that time hasn't managed to undo the damage that more than 200 years of racism did. This is news? That will take time, money, and a real commitment from society and government on all levels.
If ATSIC really is meant to solve all these problems, it needs more funding, more power, not less. But one organisation will never be able to fix systematic, institutionalised racism.
The problems facing Indigenous communities cannot, and should not, be ignored. Different reports have found, for example, that all families in communities in the Central Desert Region are affected either directly or indirectly by violence; and that many families, for the last few days of the pay fortnight when the money has run out, experience mai wiya [no food] days, in which they live on sweet black tea.
There has been an increase in the rate of deaths in custody since the Royal Commission released its report and recommendations.
Defending Aboriginal rights and fighting racist government policy cannot mean turning away from these truths. Fighting for justice for Aboriginal people doesn't require painting the harsh reality in which many live with a sugar coat.
But the issues facing Aboriginal people are vast and complex. Simplistic scapegoating "solutions", such as taking away what little say Indigenous Australia has, will not address the cause of or solve the problems. ATSIC, as an elected Indigenous organisation, must be defended, not be replaced by a government-appointed group of public servants.
[Emma Murphy is living and working in the Irrunytju community on the SA-NT-WA border.]
From Green Left Weekly, June 25, 2003.
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