Emma Murphy, Adelaide
The South Australian state government has been embroiled in controversy and condemnation since deputy premier Kevin Foley's March 15 announcement about the fate of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands. "This government has lost confidence in the ability of the executive of the AP Lands to appropriately govern their lands", he said.
As is often the case with Indigenous issues, the government was not propelled into action by a commitment to social justice, but by tragedy. In the past month, four youths on the lands have committed suicide, with another eight attempting to.
The mainstream press and politicians claimed that the deaths were related to chronic petrol sniffing and violence. However, Ngananpa Health Service, which is based in the lands, has said this is not true.
Foley argued that the government had "no choice but to take control". An administrator was appointed — retired assistant police commissioner Jim Litster — who would oversee the management of the AP Lands Council.
Progressive activists have quickly condemned this as an attack on self-determination and land rights, which have been enshrined in state legislation since 1981.
"This move is reminiscent of the paternalistic treatment of Indigenous people in the pre-land rights era", said Tom Bertuleit, a local Socialist Alliance Senate candidate. "The implicit message in the appointment of Jim Litster is that land rights have failed, that Indigenous people can't look after themselves and they need a firm hand." The government has been quick to deny that land rights will be affected. But it is unclear what "land rights" without any control over budgets, programs or management could mean.
The state government is using the petrol sniffing crisis on the lands — and the ill health and violence stemming from it — as evidence that self-determination is failing and that the AP Lands Council is incapable of self-management. The government's message is clear: the problems facing Pitjantjatjara people living on the lands are pretty much their own fault.
This attitude has angered council chairperson Gary Lewis, who said on March 16 that the move "only serves to reinforce the racist beliefs that Indigenous peoples are not capable of managing their own lives".
In response to government allegations that petrol sniffing has not been tackled by the council, Lewis pointed out that it is the state government that has failed to act, despite recommendations stemming from a coronial inquest into sniffing.
Released in September 2002, the inquest's report indicated that it was urgent that its recommendations — which emphasised developing self determination and community-run programs — be implemented. The state government has failed to implement them, and now seems to be blaming the council for the result.
While the government claims it responded by offering a $7 million health package, an investigation by Adelaide's Advertiser in early March found that the money had not reached health workers. It is unclear whether it reached the council.
On March 25, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission handed down its social justice report. HREOC Social Justice Unit director Darren Dick said the report found that blaming the communities is wrong, when the government consistently fails to adequately address violence, health and petrol sniffing.
He told Radio National's PM any "focus on [petrol sniffing] usually requires a crisis situation to be revealed in the media, which usually results in short-term government action until the attention dies down and sniffing is again marginalised as an issue."
On March 24, the state government backtracked a little, presenting a plan to appoint a coordinator who would not have power over the council. Umuwa community leaders have yet to respond to the proposal.
From Green Left Weekly, March 31, 2004.
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