The previous Labor federal government labelled its Aboriginal Affairs policy direction "self-determination". The new minister for Aboriginal affairs, Senator John Herron, has announced that the catchphrase for his regime will be "self-empowerment through economic independence".
Both are as convincing as a statement of the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's 1984.
In a November 15 speech, Herron reeled out the statistics to prove that Labor had failed Aborigines:
lAboriginal infant mortality rate 2-3 times that for non-Aborigines;
lAboriginal life expectancy 16 to 19 years lower than the rest of the population;
l120 remote Aboriginal communities with no adequate water supply;
l250 Aboriginal communities with no electricity;
l134 Aboriginal communities with no sewage disposal systems.
Labor spent $12 billion over 12 years on Aborigines and did not get "value for money" said Herron, who promised that the Coalition will do better.
However, the proposals he outlined were like an excerpt from a Yes Minister script:
l The federal government will negotiate agreements with state and territory governments to "measure progress", "establish benchmarks" and clarify division of labour between levels of government. Indeed, the Steering Committee for the Review of Commonwealth/State Service Provision had already begun this important work and will issue another report in February 1997!
lThe Army would be sent in to set up water supplies for a couple of remote Aboriginal communities — in a $2 million publicity stunt.
lAboriginal small businesses will be encouraged through the Business Advice for Rural Areas program — a program that will be abolished next March because of budget cuts (Herron neglected to add).
Other important Howard government policy "initiatives" were conveniently left out of Herron's speech.
For instance, the Howard government is trying its best to increase the restrictions on the native title right recognised by the High Court in its 1993 Mabo decision. Labor did a pretty good job, but the Coalition wants to limit the right of Aboriginal traditional land owners to negotiate, prevent many Aborigines from even beginning proceedings for native title and give itself the power to override native title in the "national interest".
The Howard government's budget cuts disproportionately hit indigenous Australians: $400 million directly from ATSIC and more through cuts to other social services. Aborigines suffer four times the national unemployment rate in spite of the fact that some 30,000 Aborigines work for the dole on an official system of discriminatory cheap labour. A study done at the Australian National University estimated that the budget cuts could push up the unemployment rate among Aborigines from 38.3% to 42.6%.
So much for greater "economic independence".
But why worry about a few glaring contradictions between rhetoric and policy when you have a catchy slogan and a stunt that appeals to the right-wing populist sentiment so eloquently voiced by Pauline of Oxley and (now surreptitiously) cheered on by John Howard and Co?
A few weeks ago Herron indicated who his rhetoric was aimed at and what it really signalled. "Self-empowerment", he told a Sydney Morning Herald journalist, meant "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps". So the real message is: government will do as little as possible, and if things don't improve it's the fault of Aboriginal people.